Living the Dream
by SLPikachu
Summary: Sam's kids, Jonathan and Mary are back! Everything is quiet and Sam and Dean are finally living a normal, apple pie life.
1. Chapter 1

**This is a continuation of Sam's kids, Jonathan and Mary from my _A Sam Winchester Story _and _Going Back to Old Ways_, only there won't be any plot to this one. I just miss writing about Sam's kids, sometimes so this is just about Sam and Dean raising Sam's kids. There's no hunting, whatsoever involved in this. Cas and Gabriel are in this, too, and Garth may make some appearances. **

**Living the Dream**

Chapter 1

Dean leaned against the Impala with his hands in his jacket pockets as he waited for the elementary school to release its students for the day. It's been a month since Pyro and his demon followers were defeated. Things have been pretty quiet since then. It took a lot of willpower but Dean did decide to retire from hunting, finally, and got a job at a car garage, working his hours so he could clock out and pick up his niece and nephew on time. But every time Dean read the newspaper or checked online, the sudden urge to hunt again would start up and Sam had to take the paper away or get his brother away from the computer. It took Jonathan and Mary's smiling faces to help Dean resist taking a hunt.

The end-of-the-day bell rang over the intercom and students piled out of the building. The lower grades were all in single file lines, lining up along the fence while the older ones just ran out like madmen. Jonathan was one of the madmen trying to shove his way outside. He ran over when he saw his uncle.

Dean held his hand out, "There's the birthday boy," he greeted the boy, exchanging a friendly handshake, followed by a pound. "How was school?"

Jonathan shrugged. "It was okay," he replied. "Same ole stuff."

Dean ruffled the kid's hair. "Ready for your party tonight?"

"Yeah, all my friends said they're coming. We're thinking of having a Brawl tournament. Can we stay up all night?"

Dean shrugged, "All right with me, it's your party. May have to ask your dad, though."

At that point, Mary came running up to them. Dean stood up, straight from the Impala and held his arms out to scoop the little girl up. She hugged his neck, tightly.

"Hey there, Tiger," he greeted his niece, giving her a kiss on the cheek. "How was school?"

"We had a fire drill today. It was so loud that I had to cover my ears," she told him.

"Fire drill, huh?" he grinned. "Did the fire get ya and eat you up?"

Mary laughed, "No, Uncle Dean. It was only for us to practice in case there was a fire."

"Oh, okay. I just wanted to make sure nothing ate my little tiger." Dean planted several more kisses on her cheek and set her down on her feet before opening both doors for Jonathan and Mary so they could climb in. He then walked around the Impala and slid in, himself, starting the engine. Dean had to wait a few minutes until he could squeeze into the traffic of parents picking up their children. "Come on. Move it!" he yelled at a guy who was in front of him, who clearly had enough room to move but decided he'd rather sit there so everyone else couldn't move.

It was also a challenge not to swear when he was around his niece and nephew. Most of the money in the curse jar they had at home, on top of the fridge usually came mostly from Dean's constant need to swear, especially his favorite phase.

"Uncle Dean," Mary said from the backseat.

"What, Tiger?" he responded, two seconds away from smashing the horn at the guy, now.

"Derrick said something mean to me that you say a lot," she told him.

Jonathan looked back, over the back of the front seat at his sister. "If Uncle Dean says it, then don't repeat it. We need that money so we can buy _Mario and Sonic at the Olympics_," he warned her.

"I won't but he hit me at recess too," Mary said, "and shoved me into the sand so I would eat it. He wouldn't get off so I hit him back."

"As long as it was in self-defense," Dean reminded his niece, looking in the rear-view. The guy finally moved and Dean was able to pull away from the curb. The traffic was barely moving though.

"It was but the teacher still gave me lunch detention. Me and Derrick has to eat lunch for three days with her, next week," she said, upset about having to eat with her teacher and not her best friend.

"Could have been worse," Jonathan shrugged. "I got suspended from school for fighting."

Dean quickly turned his head, "What? When was this?" he demanded.

"It was around Halloween. Dad knows, I swear," Jonathan assured his uncle. "I was standing up for another kid who was getting bullied and we ended up getting into a fight. It hasn't happened again, since."

Dean calmed down at that. "At least it was for someone else." He smiled over at his nephew. "I'm proud of you, Jon."

"What about me?" Mary asked. "Are you proud of me?"

"I'm always proud of both of you when you make good choices," Dean looked up at the rear-view mirror, at her. His phone rang. Dean reached into his jeans pocket and pulled it out, looking at the front screen before flipping it open. "Hey, Sam. What's up?"

"Have you picked up the kids yet?" Sam asked, curious.

Dean looked at his watch, "Oh about fifteen minutes ago. Haven't left the parking lot yet."

Sam laughed to himself. "My last court hearing of the day got pushed until tomorrow so I'm on my way home. Can you stop at the store and pick up the cake and everything else we need tonight while I finish getting the house clean?"

"Come on, Sam, you know how I feel about going to Wal-Mart," he told him, not wanting to step foot in his least favorite store.

"Dude, come on. The party starts in a couple hours and I didn't get a whole lot done, last night since someone decided to fall asleep," Sam told him.

Dean shrugged, "You know cleaning isn't one of my strong suits." He stepped, gently on the gas when another car came out of nowhere and cut him off. "Son of a bitch!"

"That was the word," said Mary, as if it was a game.

Sam snapped at his brother, "Dean, watch it! The kids are within earshot of you."

"And I will gladly put in in a dollar too, and another one," Dean spat, angrily. "This ass cut me off, almost making me ram into him." He rolled his window down to yell out, "Ass!" as he shoved on the horn.

Sam wasn't saying anything but if anyone knew him, would know he was shaking his head at his brother as he held the bridge of his nose.

The guy in front of Dean held his hand out and flipped Dean off, which pissed him off even more.

"Dude, you are so glad we're in a school parking lot with kids around or I would come over there and bust your freakin' skull in!" Dean yelled out to him.

"Dean, can you go to the store or not?" Sam asked his brother, annoyance apparent in his voice.

"I'm going, I'm going. Calm down, Sammy," he assured him.

"I can say the same to you, but thanks. Just behave yourself. Okay?"

"Am I getting out of my car to pound that guy's skull in?" Dean asked of him.

"I'm on the phone, Dean. I can't see what you're doing," Sam pointed out.

"Sarcasm, Sam, and I'm not. I am setting a good example for my niece and nephew which by the way, Mary has something she would like to tell you." Dean reached back, holding his cell phone towards the little girl. "Tell your dad about getting lunch detention for three days, today."

"But," she tried to protest.

"You're not gonna be in trouble but you do need to let your dad know about it. Now take the phone. Hurry, your dad's waiting."

Mary took the phone from her uncle and put it to her ear. "Hi, Daddy," she said into the cell phone.

"Hey, beautiful," Sam replied. "How was school?"

"Derrick hit me, and shoved me, and called me a bad name that Uncle Dean says a lot," she told her father.

"Oh. Well, did you tell your teacher?" he asked.

"No, but she saw me hit him back. Derrick wouldn't get off me. The teacher says I have lunch detention, next week, for three days," Mary explained.

"I can't do anything about that, Mary. Why was Derrick being mean to you?"

"Derrick is mean to everyone. He is a stupid, booger head."

Sam wanted to laugh about the booger head part but instead told his daughter, "Mary, be nice. Maybe Derrick doesn't have any friends and is lonely. Why don't you use the time in detention to talk to him, get to know him. You know, be his friend."

"We're not allowed to talk in detention," Mary told her father.

"Okay, talk to him at recess then. Or we can invite him and Todd over so the three of you can play. That sound good?" Sam suggested.

"Do I get a choice?" she asked.

"Yes, you do," he replied.

"Then no."

"No? Why not?"

"I don't like Derrick. He always smells and says mean things to everyone," Mary was whining by now.

Dean looked up at the rear-view mirror again just after he was finally able to leave the parking lot. "You know who whines, Mary Joanne?" he asked her. "Babies."

"I'm talking to Daddy, Uncle Dean," Mary told her uncle.

He raised his eyebrows at her, "Does it look like I care?"

Mary ignored him. "Daddy, Uncle Dean is being mean again."

"How is he being mean, this time?" Sam asked, tiredly. Usually, when Dean was "being mean" it was because he was reprimanding Mary for something she did.

"He called me a baby," she said.

"Are you sucking your thumb again?"

"No, he said babies whine. I wasn't whining."

"Sure sounded like it to me," Sam agreed with his brother. It sounded like he had turned on his blinker. "I changed my mind. You and I are gonna sit down this weekend and discuss when to have a play date with Todd and Derrick, and you're going to be nice to him. Understand?"

"What if Derrick's mean first?" Mary tried to protest.

"Then be extra nice to him."

"But, Daddy…"

"There's no buts, Mary Joanne. I don't want today repeated again, at least not this school year. I love you."

Mary was really upset now and closed the phone, ending the call before handing it back to her uncle. "Here, Uncle Dean," she said.

Dean looked up at the rear-view mirror and reached back to take the phone. As he was about to put it away, it rang again. Dean looked at the front and saw it was Sam, calling back. "Did you hang up on your father?" he asked of his niece.

Mary nodded, her arms tightly folded across her chest as she stared out her window.

Dean flipped the phone open with his thumb and pressed the talk button, passing it back to her. "Apologize to your father for hanging up on him, Mary Joanne."

Mary refused, not moving.

"Mary Joanne Winchester, you better take this phone or we will be having a discussion when we get home," he threatened.

She took the phone from her uncle and said in a bitter tone, "Sorry," before passing it back to him.

"Nicer than that, you know better," Dean told her, watching his niece in the rear-view mirror.

Mary tossed the phone over the seat, which it landed in between him and Jonathan, who was listening to his iPod.

"Hell, no," Dean said under his breath. He picked up his phone and put it to his ear. "Sam, I am dropping Mary off at home and just taking Jon with me. I am not dealing with this today. Not on my nephew's birthday."

"You want me to talk to her, then?" Sam asked.

"No, when Jon and I return from the store, I am going to have a discussion with her. She knows not to act like this, or hang up on you," he told his brother.

"I agree. I'll have her start on her homework when she gets home, until then," he said.

"I'm about fifteen minutes away, how far are you?" Dean asked, stopping at a stop sign.

"I'm right down the street from our house."

"Okay," Dean replied. "I came home during my lunch to let the mutt out to do her business."

"Hey!" Mary exclaimed from the backseat, not pleased he called her dog a mutt.

"Dean, Ammy has a name, you know," Sam reminded him. "Are you ever going to give the dog a chance?"

Dean shrugged, "I just don't like dogs and I don't think I can ever warm up to it, especially when it likes to shed all over the freakin' house."

"She has a heavy undercoat she has to shed, for the summer."

"Yeah, whatever. I'll see you at home." The brothers ended the call and hung up. Dean closed his phone and shoved it back into his pocket, stealing a glance up at his niece, in the mirror.

"This is your brother's special day, Mary," he scolded her. "Just like it was your day, a couple months ago. You don't need to act like a brat and hang up on your dad, even if things aren't going your way. When Jon and I get home from the store, we're going to have a discussion about your behavior. Do you understand me?"

Mary held her forehead against her window.

"I can't hear you."

"Okay," she snapped at him.

"Do not snap at me, Mary Joanne. And I better not hear you give your dad more of a hard time while we're at the store. Do you understand me?"

"Yes," she was pouting now.

Dean eventually pulled into the gravel driveway, next to Sam's car so Mary could get out. Mary took off her seatbelt and slid off of her booster seat while Dean got out and opened her door for her. As she walked by him, Dean shut her door and planted a firm swat to her backside, telling her there would be more to come when he got home.

Mary just stormed into the house, holding her backpack on her right shoulder. Once Mary was inside, Dean slid back into the Impala and backed out of the driveway and headed to the store.


	2. Chapter 2

**Living the Dream**

Chapter 2

Dean drove to the dreaded Wal-Mart, while Jonathan sat beside him, jamming to a Led Zeppelin song on his iPod. Dean looked over and gently smacked the boy's knee to get his attention.

Jonathan removed his earphones and looked over at his uncle, "Yes, Uncle Dean?"

"I just wanted to chat," Dean shrugged. "So, baseball's over. What sport are you doing next?"

"Dad and I talked about it. I want to do soccer again, see if I like it. I haven't played since I was five or six," he explained as he turned off his iPod and wrapped the earphones cord around it.

Dean nodded, "Nice. Did your dad tell you, he played soccer as a kid once?"

Jonathan nodded, "He said he loved it. I don't know if I would be good at soccer. I'm used to using my hands to throw or catch a ball."

"It just takes practice," he shrugged, driving with his left hand. "I never played soccer as a kid but I helped Mary last year, a little. I can work with you too. How's that?"

"Dad said he would, but you can too," Jonathan replied. "Hey, maybe all four of us can have a two-on-two scrimmage against each other. Dad's always looking for "family bonding time.'" He did quotations with his fingers as he said _family bonding time_.

Dean cocked a grin, "You've been hanging around Cas lately, haven't you?"

"What do you mean?" he asked, confused.

"Never mind," he said, looking at the road again.

"Now that I'm eleven, can I have a beer with you and Dad?"

"Dean looked back at his nephew, grinning still and smacked him, gently on the shoulder. "Nice try, kid. When you're at least sixteen, I'll let you have a beer with us."

Jonathan snapped his fingers, "Rats, thought I had you."

Dean couldn't help laugh at his nephew. After another ten, fifteen minutes, he pulled into the parking lot of the Wal-Mart and parked four parking spaces from the main door. Both of them got out and walked up to the store.

"Grab a cart, would ya?" Dean told his nephew when they walked past the bundle of shopping carts.

"Yes, Uncle Dean," Jonathan replied, walking over to pull a cart out and followed after his uncle, speeding to catch up.

Dean walked over to the first left, over to the bakery to pick up the cake Sam had ordered the week before.

"What can I do for you, sir?" a young man in his mid-twenties asked, behind the counter.

"I'm picking up for Winchester," Dean told him.

"Let me look into it," he said and headed into the back.

Jonathan was leaning on the handle of the cart which Dean noticed and decided to slowly pull the cart forward without him noticing. Jonathan almost fell forward but caught himself before it happened as Dean snickered to himself.

"So not funny, dude," Jonathan told his uncle, returning to leaning on the cart handle.

"Come on, you're a sports player, aren't ya? You're supposed to be ready for anything."

Jonathan raised his head, "Not in the off season. I'm on break."

"Oh, okay," he grinned at his nephew.

The young man returned with a rectangular cake with white frosting and passed it over the tall, glass counter to Dean, who placed it in the cart, thanking him. Next, the boys headed over to the soda where Dean let Jonathan pick the flavors. Jonathan picked Mountain Dew, Root Beer, Coke, and made sure to grab Orange Soda since one of his friends loved it.

Meanwhile, since Castiel decided to help Sam out and "clean" the house himself, Sam was able to sit down and help Mary with her homework after he changed into comfortable clothing he wore around the house. Even though Mary didn't want his help, she had been sitting there, staring at the word problems worksheet.

"It's just like regular numbers, sweetheart," Sam was telling his daughter. He grabbed a pencil from her pencil case and stood up to grab the notepad off the front of the fridge, returning to his seat beside her. "What does more than mean?"

"Adding," she replied.

""Right, so ten more than sixty-eight would line up, vertically as ten plus sixty-eight and you know how to do that," he explained as he wrote the problem out on the notepad.

Mary copied the problem onto her worksheet and added up the numbers. "Seventy-eight?" she asked, looking up at her father.

Sam smiled, proudly, "Right. Now this is less then. What do you do when it's less than?"

"You minus it," she said.

"Right, but it's called, subtracting, remember? Since you are subtracting, what must you remember to do?" he asked her.

Mary looked down at the problem. "The big number always goes on top," she looked back up at him again.

"Right, so you subtract ten from thirty-three." Sam wrote out the problem, vertically on the notepad, next to the first one and showed it to Mary.

Mary copied the problem down and worked that one out, as well.

"Ask yourself, first, Mary," he interrupted her. "Do you need to do any borrowing?"

Mary looked the problem over and shook her head. "Nope," and returned to the problem. "Twenty-three," she said afterwards.

"Right. Good job, sweetheart." Sam stood up again. "Now do that for the rest of the problems while I order the pizza for your brother's party."

Mary continued working while Sam walked over to the fridge to return the notepad and look the number up to the local pizza restaurant they normally ordered from, they kept on there with the rest of the phone numbers. Sam took out his iPhone and dialed the number.

Gabriel popped in and decided the house could use some party decorations.

"Dude," Sam told him when he was finished ordering and hung up, leaning on the counter, "Dean and Jon are at the store, getting that stuff, you know."

"Hey," the archangel shrugged, "Thought I would help out."

Sam just huffed as he glared over at him and called Dean to let him know not to get any decorations.

"Uncle Gabe," Mary called over to Gabriel.

Gabriel walked over to the table and leaned on his arms, "What's up, kiddo?"

"Do you have any candy?" she asked him.

He stood up, "Well, let's see." Gabriel went into his pocket.

Sam spoke up, hanging his phone up again, "No, Mary. No candy. If you're hungry, you can have fruit."

"But…" Mary tried to protest.

"I said no, end of discussion." Sam quickly added, "And do not slip her one under the table, Gabriel." Sam wasn't too thrilled having Gabriel around. He was the one who made Sam watch his brother die over a hundred times and usually something like that is never forgotten. But he did help them with caging Lucifer again and helped in the war against Pyro. So he guessed that counted for something. And the kids really seemed to like Gabriel, especially Mary. Of course, probably any kid who loved candy would probably love Gabriel.

Mary returned to her homework, finishing it in fifteen minutes. Sam checked it before he gone through her homework folder. When he didn't see any other homework in there, he closed the folder and placed it back in her _Pokémon _backpack.

"Why don't you do your twenty minute reading until your uncle gets home," Sam suggested.

Mary moaned, "I don't want to read."

"Quit being lazy, Mary. You love reading," he told her. "Go pick out a book and you can read it to me. How's that."

Mary slid off her chair and headed over to the stairs. "I'm supposed to be mad at you, you know," she told her father, bitterly.

Sam zipped up her backpack and handed it to Mary as she walked by, holding it by the handle. "Fine, be mad at me. If you don't want to read to me, that's fine but I want you reading."

Mary turned around to look back at her father. "A comic book counts as reading, right?" she asked.

He shrugged, "As long as you're reading it for twenty minutes, that's fine. And not just looking at the pictures either."

She turned back around and went over to the stairs, taking her time and ascended the stairs.

"And I want you reading down here where I can keep an eye on you, to make sure you're reading," Sam called after her.

Upstairs, Mary tossed her backpack on her bed and sat down on her legs, in front of her bookshelf to choose a book. After deciding, she pulled one of her _X-men_ graphic novels off the shelf and took it downstairs where she curled up on the couch and read it to herself until her uncle walked in the door.

"Everyone help carry in the groceries," he called out and quickly added, "The human way," towards the pair of angels standing up from the table. "Mary, you too. Go help bring in the groceries."

They're too heavy for me," she tried to argue.

"Not everything," he told her. "Now get your butt out there and help before it gets in even more trouble."

Mary dropped her book beside her and slid off the couch, taking her time again.

Dean was stricter than his brother though. "One…two…three…"

She suddenly picked up the pace and hurried outside to her uncle's car. Castiel was out there, grabbing some of the groceries from the trunk. He handed the little girl the bag of paper plates and a bag of the silverware and napkins, knowing those were perfect for Mary to carry in.

Once the groceries were brought in and placed on the kitchen table, Dean ordered his niece upstairs to her bedroom and to get ready for bed since part of her punishment was an early bedtime, right after the party. Mary headed upstairs, taking her book with her and got ready for bed, taking a bath first. Sam went up there to make sure she didn't use too much water and that her uncle said she couldn't play in the bath that night.

Unfortunately for Mary, Jonathan's friends started arriving while she was getting out and dressed and since the walls weren't sound-proof, she was afraid they'd be able to hear everything. Luckily, the boys decided to head outside and toss the football around while they waited for the pizza to get there.

Dean headed upstairs when Mary was dressed in her long-sleeved _Pokémon _pajamas with Ash on the front of the shirt and all over the pants, and closed the door behind him. Mary was lying on her bed, listening to her favorite singer on her radio, battling her _Pokémon _action figures together, crashing them into each other as she made noises with her mouth upon impact.

Dean stood over her, his hands on his sides. "Discussion first, or spanking first?" he asked, reaching over to turn the music off.

"No, leave it on so Jon's friends can't hear anything," she tried to protest.

"Jon and his friends are tossing a football outside until the pizza gets here. They won't hear, I promise," he assured her.

"Spanking first, then," she said, hesitantly.

He picked her up and set Mary on her feet, sitting down on her bed, pulling her across his lap.

Mary tugged back, suddenly at the last minute, "I'm sorry, Uncle Dean. I won't hang up on Daddy again, I promise." Tears were already filling up in her eyes as she pleaded with her uncle.

It broke his heart to listen to his niece but he had to do what was right. Mary knew what was expected of her and gave him and her father a hard time anyway. Dean lifted her up and laid her across his lap for her and wrapped his left arm around her waist before raising his right hand and lowering it down on her backside, firmly but held off on his strength. After ten swats, Mary was balling her eyes out. Dean usually did it a little harder than his brother but not by much. Neither of them wanted to seriously hurt the kids.

Dean let her up after the tenth swat and held his niece in his arms. "Shh, shh," he told her, "It's okay, Tiger. It's all over now. I'm done. It's all right, I promise." Dean reached underneath her pajama shirt and rubbed her back like he always did when he was calming her down. "I love you, Tiger and I always will." He kissed the side of her head as Mary cried into his collarbone as he held his head against hers, facing the other way. "I know it hurts, but you know it won't in a few minutes."

Mary was gripping the front of her uncle's black T-shirt in her right hand and the sleeve of his green over shirt in the other as she continued to cry, soaking both his shirts. Dean held her for as long as she needed before pulling her onto his left leg and continued to hold her as she laid her head against his left shoulder.

"Hey, listen to me," he said, gently but stern too. "You know better to hang up the phone on anybody. You at least wait until the person, for sure, is done talking. I don't care if you're mad or not. Do you understand me?"

Mary nodded, slowly, staring at the wood floor, wanting to put her thumb in her mouth so badly. Thanks to her grandfather, Dean had started smacking her hand every time she tried. Her backside still hurt a little, she didn't want her hand hurting too.

Dean kissed her forehead. "Today is your brother's birthday. I don't want to be up here, having to punish my little tiger cub. I want us to be down there, spending time with him as a family. Your dad says, because of your behavior, you can't have any cake and ice cream after dinner and that makes me disappointed. I want you to be able to have cake and ice cream with us." He rubbed the left side of Mary's face with his thumb as she sniffled every two seconds.

"I'm really sorry, Uncle Dean," she sniffed again.

"And I appreciate that, but can you apologize to your dad too, nicely this time?" he asked of her.

Mary nodded against his shoulder.

"And you're grounded from TV and video games for a week, understand?" he told her.

Mary wanted to cry again, at that but nodded again.

"Where's your small video game?" Dean asked and gently nudged her off his lap. "Get it and bring it to me."

She didn't have that far to go. Mary stepped over to open the drawer of her nightstand and took out her silver Nintendo 3DS and handed it to her uncle.

Holding it up, he told her, "It'll stay in my room until the week is up. Okay?"

Mary rubbed at her right eye as she sniffed in. "You can play it, if you want, Uncle Dean."

Dean had to smile at his niece's generosity and pulled her in to give her a hug. "Tomorrow, you're gonna help me pull weeds as your other punishment."

"I hate pulling weeds," she moaned from his left shoulder.

"That's the general idea of punishment, Tiger," he told her, rubbing her back, up and down. He stood up, lifting his niece up with him, careful of what was left of her soreness in her bottom. "Come on. Let's see if the pizza's here, I'm starving."

That put a smile of her face and made her giggle a little which Dean kissed her cheek again before leaving the room, turning the light off. He stopped by his room to toss Mary's 3DS on his bed and carried her downstairs, where everyone had already dug into the pizza and five, young boys sat at the table, laughing and talking while Sam, Castiel, and Gabriel leaned against the counters over in the kitchen, eating theirs.

Dean walked around the long counter that divided the kitchen from the family room and over to his brother. "Mary has something she would like to tell you, Sam," he said.

Mary looked up at her father, hesitantly. "I'm sorry for hanging up on you, Daddy," she told him.

"Can you tell him you love him, too?" Dean added, quietly.

Mary nodded at her uncle and turned her head back over to her father. "I love you, Daddy."

Sam smiled at his daughter and set his plate down, on the counter behind him to hold his hands out to her and took Mary from his brother. Mary winced when his arm rubbed against her bottom by accident. It didn't hurt that much now, but it did a little.

Mary hugged her father's neck and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Daddy, you need to shave," she told him, afterwards.

"I do, huh?" he smiled at her. "Is it too itchy for you?"

"Yes," she nodded. "Really itchy."

"I'll remember that in the morning, okay? Are you hungry? Want some pizza?"

"Yeah, I'm starving."

Dean snickered to himself at that.

"Yeah, you are related to your uncle Dean," Sam told his daughter. He set her down on her feet and told her she could sit on one of the stools, on the other side the counter.

Mary hurried over to climb up, onto the stool closest to the kitchen table while Sam placed a slice of pepperoni pizza on a paper plate and brought it over to set it in front of her.

"Would you like ranch, Mary?" he asked.

"Yes, please," she replied.

Sam reached between two of his son's friends, politely and grabbed the bottle of ranch from the table and poured some onto his daughter's plate. "Where's the lid, boys?" he asked them, afterwards, showing them the bottle.

Jonathan grabbed the lid in front of him, on the table and held it up in the air, "Right here, Dad."

"Thanks, Jon," Sam said, taking the lid and screwing it on the bottle. He set it back down on the table, "Make sure you keep the lid on the bottle so we don't lose it. Okay, boys?"

The boys agreed, returning to their conversation about cars.

"Best car will always be the '67 Chevy Impala," Jonathan was telling his friends, which made Dean smile, proudly.

"No way," one of his friends said. "That's an old car. The Mustang GT is the best car ever."

"Nope, the Corvette is the best car ever," another boy argued.

All of Jonathan's friends argued about newer-made cars but Jonathan stuck to what his uncle had taught him.

"That's a lame, stupid piece of junk. My dad says no one drives it anymore because it's like driving a broken down go-kart," the first boy said.

Dean stood up from where he was leaning against the counter, next to the fridge. "That's it, you kid, get out of my house. You're not welcome here, anymore. Call your father and go home," he told him.

"Dean," Sam told him, "everyone is entitled to their opinion."

"Not when it's crap about my baby," Dean argued, defensively.

"He's just a kid, Dean. Calm down." Sam could see Dean was starting to get worked up over it. "Take deep breaths…"

"Sam, your yoga crap never worked before and it won't work this time, either," he spat at him.

Sam quickly changed the subject, "Who's ready for cake and ice cream?" he announced.

The boys cheered, including Jonathan. Gabriel joined in, too. Dean turned around, setting his plate on the counter, on his left side of the stove and opened the junk drawer at the counter Mary was sitting at, to dig for a lighter. Sam removed the clear, plastic lid on the cake, that said, _Happy 11__th__ Birthday, Jon!_ on it and sports arsenals all over it and opened up the box of candles Dean had bought at the store, counting out eleven.

"Are you sure that won't be a fire hazard?" Castiel questioned as Sam stuck each candle in the cake.

"You ask that every year, Cas," Dean told the angel as he rummaged through the messy junk drawer, "and every year, we tell you, it's fine. Where the hell is my lighter?"

"That's four dollars, so far, Uncle Dean," Mary pointed out at her uncle, eating her pizza crust now.

Sam remembered where he might have used it last. "I think I left it outside, by the grill when we bar-ba-qued on Sunday," he looked up from the candles then finished.

Dean let out an annoyed sigh. "I will be right back," he said, heading outside, through the side door in the family room. Dean threw on the porch light on his way out and went over to where they kept their grill. Sure enough, there it was, on the wooden and metal picnic table that had come with the house when Sam bought it. He returned inside, shutting the door and locking it as he headed over to the kitchen table where Sam had moved the cake to, in front of where Jonathan was sitting and began to light each candle.

Everyone, except for Jonathan started to sing as Dean lit the last candle and Mary jumped off the stool to run over and shut all the lights off, the only light coming from the lit candles. Once they were done singing, Jonathan made his wish and quickly blew out the candles. Unfortunately, the candles suddenly relit themselves and he had to do it again after Mary turned the lights back on. They still relit themselves.

"Uncle Dean, you said they weren't trick candles, this time," Jonathan told his uncle who was snickering at his nephew's predicament.

He shrugged, "So I lied. It's funny to trick you and your sister every year."

Jonathan kept blowing the candles out until they couldn't relight anymore and scowled up at his uncle as his father started taking the candles out. "Can we lick the frosting off them, Dad?" he asked.

"No, you can't lick the frosting off," Sam told his son. "You want to eat wax?"

Jonathan's best friend, Zack whispered to him, "Your uncle's more cool than your dad is."

Jonathan nodded, agreeing with his best friend as they watched Sam cut out, around where the candles were, before slicing and serving the first piece to Jonathan, along with strawberry ice cream, his favorite.

Mary wandered over to her father as he was slicing and serving the other boys as well. "Do I really don't get any cake and ice cream, Daddy?" she asked, quietly where her uncle couldn't hear her but Sam could.

"Yes, even though you apologized, you're still in trouble," he told her. "Ask one of your uncles to get you another slice of pizza if you're still hungry."

"Can I have some tomorrow?" Mary stared up at her father, trying to give him her best puppy-dog face.

"We'll see," he told her. "If you behave better tomorrow, you can have cake and ice cream for dessert, after dinner."

Castiel tilted his head, slightly, over at his niece. "I thought you preferred pie?"

"I do but cake is good, too. Uncle Dean does too and he's eating cake," she pointed out.

Sam looked over at his brother, who was standing over by the stove again, eating a slice of cake and ice cream. "Couldn't wait until I finished feeding the boys?" he asked of his brother.

Dean smiled back at him, "Nope."

Mary had walked over and dropped onto the couch, snuggling into it as she started to tear up again. She was really upset about everyone eating cake and ice cream and not her. Gabriel wandered over when no one was looking and offered a bite of his. Mary sat up, onto her legs and looked over at her father and uncle Dean. Unfortunately, Castiel caught the two of them before she could take it.

"Mary, start heading up to bed," Dean called over to her, holding his cake in the side of his mouth. "I will be up in a few minutes to kiss you, good-night."

She gave each angel a hug and a kiss on the cheek before climbing off the couch and headed towards the stairs, depressingly. Sliding her left hand along the brown, wooden banister, Mary climbed the stairs and walked down the upstairs hallway to her bedroom, reaching up to turn on her ceiling fan light and went over to climb into bed, turning on her music before rolling onto her back and stared up at the ceiling. Tears filled her eyes and ran down, falling into her ears which she quickly wiped away.

Fifteen minutes later, Dean came in and went over to sit on the edge of her bed, leaning over his niece with each hand on each side. "Your dad and I are not trying to be mean, okay. You choose to misbehave and now you have to accept the consequences." He shook his head, "Don't let Gabriel get you into trouble either. He's not officially family, he still needs to earn it. You do as your dad, Uncle Cas, and I tell you. Do you understand?" Dean told her, quietly.

Mary nodded, sniffling a little.

"I heard your dad say you can have cake and ice cream tomorrow, after dinner if you behave better."

"But what if it's all gone?" she asked, pitifully.

Dean just shrugged, "Shouldn't have gave your dad and I a hard time, then. I will tell the boys to save you a piece. Your dad got a pretty big cake, so there should be some left." He smiled, "I also bought our favorite ice cream so if the strawberry and rocky road are gone, you can have some of that. Okay?"

She nodded again.

Dean leaned forward to kiss his niece on the forehead and stood up to help pull her _Pokémon _comforter out from under her and covered her up with it. Mary sat up to grab her stuffed Snivy from the bed, beside her and lied back down. Dean kissed her one last time on the forehead and adjusted the volume on the radio so it wouldn't disturb the boys downstairs or anyone else but where she could still hear it.

He walked over to the doorway, placing his hand on the light switch, "Night, Tiger," he told her.

"Good night, Uncle Dean," she replied, on her right side, facing him.

"I love you."

"I love you, too, Uncle Dean."

Dean shut off her ceiling fan light and headed back downstairs, closing the door behind him. Mary could still hear her brother and his friends, faintly from downstairs and cried some more, wishing she could be down there. Jonathan wasn't like other older brothers. He would have let his sister hang out with them. Sometimes, he says no but if it was something like his birthday, Jonathan would say yes.

Mary lied there, trying to focus on her music. It didn't help when she heard the Nintendo Wii turn on, fifteen minutes later for a minute before the sound died down. Sam must have told Jonathan to turn the sound down since his sister was sleeping, or supposed to be. She was fighting it until it started creeping up on her. By that time, her door opened again and Mary heard her father ask, "You still awake, sweetheart?"

"Yeah," she replied, pitifully still.

"Close your eyes for a second," he told her.

Mary shut her eyes as Sam turned the light on, making it a little easier for her eyes to readjust. He then wandered over to kiss his daughter good-night.

"Can't I stay up and at least watch Jonathan and his friends play the Wii?" she asked.

"No, Mary, that counts as watching TV," he told her. "You are grounded for a week. No TV or Wii and an early bedtime tonight. That's your punishment."

"And no cake and ice cream, and a spanking from Uncle Dean," she added, bitterly.

Sam was leaning over his daughter like his brother was only standing up. "Yes, that too."

"It's not fair," Mary whined.

"That's the consequences of your actions. I'm sorry, I really am. Are you still mad at me, then?" Sam asked.

"Who thought of my punishment?" she asked her father.

Sam shook his head towards Mary's bedroom door, "Your uncle Dean did. I said you couldn't have cake and ice cream."

"Then I'm mad at both you and uncle Dean."

"Well, Mary," he told her, "I am very sorry you feel like we're being unfair. We love you very much." Sam kissed her forehead one last time which she tried to push him away, and stood up, to walk over to the door and looked over at his daughter. "Good night, sweetheart."

Mary turned away from her father, facing the wall. Sam turned off the light and left the room, closing the door behind him. He headed back downstairs to help his brother clean up the kitchen.

"Mary says, she's mad at both of us now," he told him.

Dean was stacking the pizza boxes, after putting the leftovers into a large freezer bag and picked them up, to carry out to the garbage can, "That's her decision, Sammy. Mary knows what is expected of her. She'll get over it when she's not grounded anymore."

The boys started getting too loud as they played _Super Smash Bros. Brawl_.

"Boys, if you can't keep it down, the Wii goes off," Dean roared at them.

"Yes, sir," they replied.

Dean smiled at his brother as they returned to their game. "It's all in the tone, Sammy," he told him and headed outside.


	3. Chapter 3

**Living the Dream**

Chapter 3

The next morning, Mary climbed out of bed and opened her door, quietly. She, carefully made her way downstairs without waking anyone and peaked around the corner, into the family room to see her brother and his friends passed out on the couch and both arm chairs. One of them was asleep on the floor, in front of the TV.

As the early morning sun peeked through the blinds in the kitchen, Mary made her way over to the side of the couch, closest to the kitchen where Jonathan was sound asleep. His legs were hanging over the arm of the couch as his arm hung out, over the edge as he lied on his back.

She shook his arm, carefully to wake him. "Jon, I'm hungry," Mary tried to wake her brother, quietly so she wouldn't wake his friends too. "Jon."

Jonathan stirred but didn't wake up. Instead, he moved his arm and turned onto his right side where he was facing the back of the couch now.

Mary kept trying, using both hands now to shake his side. "Jon, wake up," she told him.

"Mary, I'm trying to sleep," he groaned at his sister, annoyed and half asleep.

"But I'm hungry," she whined at him.

"Then wake Dad or Uncle Dean." Jonathan did not look back at her, nor did he open his eyes. He and his friends were up until two-thirty in the morning, playing the Nintendo Wii and it was only six o'clock.

"No, I'm mad at them."

"Then starve to death," he told her.

Mary folded her arms across her chest, "You're mean, Jon."

"No, I'm tired. Some of us got to stay up late, last night," he told her.

"Fine, I will get it myself then," she gave up.

"Good, I was making my own cereal when I was six, anyway, so you can too." When Mary walked away, Jonathan instantly fell back to sleep.

Mary walked over to the kitchen where Ammy was lying underneath the kitchen table, still sleeping. The dog woke up when she heard Mary walk by and came out from under the table, stretching out her back and hind legs. "Good morning, Ammy," Mary greeted the dog, keeping her voice down. She then realized she hadn't fed Ammy last night, not knowing her father had fed Ammy for her. "You must be hungry, Ammy."

Mary walked over to pick up Ammy's plastic food dish from underneath the dining area window and carried it over to the lower cupboard where they kept the large bag of dog food with Ammy following her every move. Scooping the food up with the green cup they kept in there, Mary poured it into the food dish and dropped the cup back into the bag and closed the door, gently so it wouldn't make any noise. She then carried Ammy's food dish over to set it on the floor next to her water dish which Mary also filled up with the water dispenser in the far corner of the dining area.

Once Ammy was fed, Mary pushed one of the kitchen chairs over to the counter and used it to climb up, onto the counter, standing on her knees to reach the box of Lucky Charms and set it on the counter so she could climb down. She took the cereal box over to the table and went back to push the chair over, doing the same to get a bowl from another cupboard and brought that over to the table.

Standing on her legs, on the chair, Mary poured the cereal into the bowl and climbed down to grab the milk from the fridge, carrying it in her arms. The jug was still fairly new with only a glass-worth of milk gone so Mary had trouble pouring it into the bowl. Tipping it over the bowl, she poured some of the milk in, spilling some on the table. She screwed the cap back on the top and returned it to the fridge before pulling her chair back over to the first counter where she got the cereal and climbed up on it to reach the paper towel roll and tore off more than she needed. Taking it back over to the table, along with the chair, Mary stood on her legs again and wiped up the spilled milk and threw the soiled paper towels into the trashcan under the sink, and grabbed a spoon from the silverware drawer. Finally, Mary was able to sit down and eat her self-made breakfast, sitting back on her legs, this time.

Halfway through her cereal, her father came downstairs, straight out of bed. He walked towards the kitchen and over to where Mary was sitting. "Who made you your breakfast, sweetheart?" he asked, curious. Sam could have sworn he heard his brother snoring, soundly in his room and his son looked, passed out on the couch, along with all his friends.

"Me," she replied.

Sam looked surprised to hear that. "You made yourself a bowl of cereal all by yourself?" he asked her.

Mary nodded, up at him. "I spilled some milk though, but I cleaned it up. And I fed Ammy, too."

"Mary, I am so proud of you," he told her, hugging his daughter to him.

"I'm still mad at you, Daddy," she told him, bitterly as Mary tried to push him away.

Sam stood up, smiling. "Oh, is that why you didn't wake me up?" he teased her.

She nodded.

Sam shrugged, walking over to the coffee maker, "Well, I guess since you're mad at me then you're not gonna want to come with us to Fuzzy Larry's. Guess I'll call Tiffany and have her, babysit while the rest of us go and play games."

Mary suddenly turned around to face her father, her eyes wide open. "We're going to Fuzzy Larry's today?" she asked. Fuzzy Larry's was a local arcade place filled with a whole lot of arcade games, along with games one would find at Peter Piper Pizza or Chuck E. Cheese. It also had a snack bar with hot dogs, burgers, fries, soda, chips, and candy. Both Mary and Jonathan loved it when Sam and Dean took them. To them, it was better than Disneyland or LEGOLAND. "I want to go to Fuzzy Larry's," she protested to her father.

"Shh," Sam reminded his daughter that people were still sleeping. "If you're mad at your uncle Dean and me, why would you want to come with us?"

"I'm not mad anymore," she said, "Can I go?"

Sam smiled at that as he prepared his coffee. "Remember though, you can't play video games for a week, but we're letting you still go to play the non-video games so you can still have fun. Okay?"

Mary laid her head against the back of her chair, sliding flat, onto her bottom, disappointed. "Is the Sonic and Tailsgame that spins around and gives you however many tickets Sonic and Tails' finger stops on, a video game?" she asked, hopeful.

Sam placed the lid back on the coffee can, placing it back in the cupboard at his head. "Hm. That doesn't sound like a video game. You should be fine," he assured her. "Are you going to try and beat your uncle at skeeball, this time?"

Mary nodded, excitedly. "Yeah, Uncle Dean's going down," she said.

"Oh, he is, huh?" Sam laughed at that. "Well, I can't wait to see that. Finish eating your cereal. I think your uncle's gonna pull the weeds before we leave, I think."

She moaned again, "But I don't want to pull weeds."

"Well, think about that for next time you want to give us a hard time." Sam turned on the coffee maker. Mary sat forward in her chair, slouched a bit as he walked over and leaned over to kiss the side of her head. "Can you please finish your cereal?"

Mary sat up, scooting towards the edge of her seat and picked up her spoon to finish eating until there wasn't any left before drinking the milk. Sam had gone back upstairs to get dressed for the day. Mary took her bowl over to the sink, placing it in and headed back upstairs and to her uncle's bedroom where he was still snoring.

She climbed up, onto the foot of the bed and crawled over to her uncle. Standing up, Mary leaped onto his torso, bolting Dean out of a deep sleep. "Good morning, Uncle Dean," she smiled at him.

Dean moaned, in pain. "Mary, you're getting too big to be jumping on me, like that," he scolded. "That really hurts."

Mary felt guilty when she heard she had hurt her uncle. "I'm sorry, Uncle Dean. I didn't mean to hurt you, honest."

"It's okay, Tiger," he told her, sitting up, slowly, making his niece slide down into his lap. "Just don't it again. Okay?"

She nodded and hugged her uncle.

Dean leaned back on his arms. "I thought you were mad at us?" he asked, grinning.

"I was but then Dad said we were going to Fuzzy Larry's today so I'm not mad anymore."

Dean pushed himself up, more, "Nice to know where we stand," he muttered to himself. "Come on, I'll make you some breakfast then we can get dressed and start on the weeds."

"I ate already," she told him.

"Did your dad feed ya?" he asked.

"No, I made my own breakfast."

Dean raised his eyebrows to that. "Are you gonna make my breakfast too?" he asked, smiling at her.

"Do you want Lucky Charms?" she asked.

"Sure," he smiled at his niece.

"Okay." Mary climbed off her uncle and off the bed. "Come on, Uncle Dean. I can't make you breakfast if you're in bed?"

"Oh, so I'm not getting breakfast in bed then, because I thought I was," Dean teased her.

Mary leaned on the bed, on her arms. "Dad says, no food upstairs, remember?"

Dean shrugged, "I'm pretty sure that's only for you and your brother."

"Nuh, uh," she argued. "Dad says no one can eat up here."

Dean pushed his comforter back, wearing nothing but his pajama pants and swung his legs over so they touched the cold, wood floor. "Okay, I'll come downstairs. I want to see my big girl in action, anyway."

Mary smiled and hurried out of the room and down the hall to her father's bedroom, knocking on his bathroom door. "Daddy!" she called through the door and opened it.

Sam stuck his head out from behind the shower curtain. "What, sweetheart?" he asked over the water.

"Do you want me to make you breakfast too? Uncle Dean wants me to make him cereal," she told her father.

"Can I make a substitute?" he asked.

"What's that?" Mary asked, confused.

"Can I make a change?" Sam explained where Mary could understand.

She shrugged, "I can only make cereal."

"Okay then. I will be down there in a few minutes," he told her, teasing her.

"Okay, Daddy." At that, Mary hurried from the room, forgetting to shut the bathroom door and the bedroom door. Sam tried calling out to her but that kid was fast. Mary was already bounding down the stairs.

"Mary, your brother and his friends are still sleeping," her uncle hissed, reaching his head over the counter to look at her.

Mary stepped down from the last step, slowly, "Sorry, Uncle Dean."

"It's okay. Just be a little more quieter," he assured his niece as Mary walked around the counter.

"What cereal do you want?" she asked.

"About Lucky Charms that someone forgot to put away when they were through with it," he nodded over at the cereal box still on the table.

Mary came up with an excuse on the spot, "Jon or his friends might want some when they wake up so I left it out for them."

Dean had to laugh at his niece's cuteness and got a bowl for himself and a spoon, taking it over to the end of the table, sitting down. "Okay, so show me your wonderful new skill," he told her.

Mary happily went over to climb up, onto the same chair and poured the cereal into the bowl. While she did that, Dean stood up to grab the milk. "How did you pour the milk?" he asked of her when he saw how full the milk jug was.

"I spilled some but I cleaned it up," she explained.

Dean walked to the table. "Let me help you, this time, then," he said, unscrewing the cap off.

"No, Uncle Dean. I'm making breakfast today." Mary took the jug with both hands and set it on the table to tilt it over again, over the bowl. Dean at least spotted the pouring to catch it before it spilled.

"Good job, Tiger," he praised, keeping his voice down as Mary set the milk jug upright and screwed the cap back on.

Sam came down the stairs, dressed for the day. "Morning, Dean," he greeted his brother as he squeezed behind Mary's chair. "Coffee should be ready."

"I saw it," he said and grinned. "By the way, we're having breakfast made for us, this morning."

"I heard," Sam replied with a smile, grabbing a coffee mug from the upper cupboard by the fridge, on the middle self. "Can I have a bowl of Cheerios, Mary?"

"Yes, you can, Daddy," she nodded.

Sam grabbed a bowl from the shelf, right next to the coffee mugs and handed it to Mary when she walked over to him, meeting her halfway. Mary took it over to the table on her other side as Sam grabbed the box of Cheerios from the cupboard the Lucky Charms were in and set it on the table, in front of his daughter. She lowered it down so she could open the box and the bag before pouring it into her father's bowl.

Sam walked over and sat down beside her. "My little girl is growing up so fast," he complimented, proudly, also keeping his voice down.

Mary set the box on the table. "Daddy, don't you want your bananas?" she reminded him.

"I almost forgot about the banana." He kissed the side of her head and reached over to the center of the table where the fruit basket was, "Can you grab me a butter knife, please?" Sam asked of his daughter, politely.

She nodded and hurried over to grab a butter knife from the drawer and brought it back to the table. "I want to do it for you." Sam started the banana for her and let Mary peel the outside off, laying it on the table to cut into slices, showing her how big to cut. Mary cut up the banana, carefully and scooped them up, into her hands to place them in the bowl of Cheerios.

Finally, Mary unscrewed the cap off the milk jug again and tilted it to pour into the cereal. Sam instantly held his hand out to spot her like Dean had done until she finished, returning the cap. "I'll get you a spoon, Dad," Mary told her father and climbed down from her chair to return the milk to the fridge and grab a spoon from the silverware drawer, bringing it back to him.

"Mmm," said Dean, with a mouthful of Lucky Charms. "This is the best cereal I ever tasted."

"It is?" Mary asked.

He swallowed before nudging her arm with his, "Yeah, because you made it for me."

Sam wrapped his left arm around his daughter and kissed the top of her head, "Great job, sweetheart."

"I want Jon to wake up so I can make him breakfast too," she replied.

Dean snickered. "I think Jon will be out for a while. Why don't you go get dressed so we can start on the weeds," he suggested.

"Okay," she said, reluctantly, as she slid off her chair. When she pushed in her chair, Dean wrapped his arm around her waist and tickled her stomach. Mary giggled, trying her best not to laugh out loud.

"Uncle Dean," she giggled. "Stop, let me go."

"Who's the best uncle in the whole world?" he asked as he continued.

Mary continued, giggling.

"I'm not gonna stop until you answer," he told her in a singsong voice.

"You are, Uncle Dean," she giggled, finally.

Dean continued for another twenty seconds before he let her go. "All right," he told her. "Go get dressed in something you can get dirty in, okay."

Mary nodded and ducked out of the way when her uncle was going to give her, a playful swat to her bottom. She stopped to turn around, at the other end of the table. "Ha ha, you missed me, Uncle Dean."

Dean grinned, standing up, slowly, "Oh I did, huh?" He went around the other side of the table and chased after his niece to the bottom of the stairs, grabbing her around the waist and flipped her over his shoulder, on her back. "What were you saying before?" Dean laughed, quietly.

Mary was squirming on his shoulder, laughing too, her pajama shirt sliding up to reveal her stomach. Dean carried her upstairs like that as Mary pleaded to be let down. He headed inside her bedroom where he heard her radio still on.

"Why is your radio still on? Huh?" he asked and tickled her bare stomach and right side. "Huh? Why is your radio still on when you're not in here, listening to it? Do you pay the electric bill? Huh, do ya?"

"I forgot," she said, her laughs getting a little louder.

Dean tickled her some more before flipping her back over, to place his niece on her bed, planting a series of playful swats he wasn't trying to hurt, on her bottom before removing his arm from around her waist. Mary sat on her legs and pretended to glare up at her uncle and tackled him. Dean grabbed her in a bear hug and pinned her down on the bed to tickle Mary some more.

"So you want more, do ya?" he laughed along with his niece.

Mary tried to protect herself, but also wanted her uncle to tickle her so she didn't really try that much as she laughed. Eventually, he did stop, standing up straight.

"Okay, get dressed so we have time to go to Fuzzy's today," he told her and made to leave the room.

"Wait," she stopped him, standing up on her bed.

He turned back to face his niece, "What?"

Mary held her arms out to her uncle who smiled at her, and went back over to wrap his arms around her. Mary hugged his neck and gave him a kiss on the cheek, rubbing her face on her arm from the tickle his stubble gave her. "I love you, Uncle Dean," she told him.

"I love you too, Tiger," he smiled at her. "Now stop trying to prolong pulling weeds and get dressed."

"Okay," she gave in.

Did Dean know his niece or what?


	4. Chapter 4

**Living the Dream**

Chapter 4

After spending two hours pulling weeds, both Dean and Mary both showered and changed into clean clothes before the family, including Jonathan's friends left for Fuzzy Larry's. Much to Dean's protests, he got stuck with the boys since the Impala could hold five boys while Mary rode with Sam in his car.

Dean pulled out of the driveway first while Sam was finishing up the last of the bills so he could mail some of them at the post office on the way. Mary wasn't too fond of getting left behind and having to be late getting to Fuzzy Larry's and nagged her father when they were leaving, standing beside his office chair, in his office.

"Can we go now? Can we go now? Can we go now?" she repeated over and over again.

Sam usually controlled his temper with the kids better than his brother could. But having to calculate math in his head while a six-year-old was sounding like a broken record in his ear was not the easiest task.

"Mary, honey," he finally acknowledged his daughter. "We will go when I finish paying our bills. If you don't stop pestering me about it, we will not go at all. Okay?"

Mary nodded at her father and went over to lie on the couch, on her stomach, Sam kept in his office. "Why couldn't I go with Uncle Dean too?" she asked from the arm of the couch.

"Because Uncle Dean only has five extra seats in his car and it wouldn't be fair to Jon if we split up his friends, especially when this is for his birthday." Sam pressed each button on his calculator, adding the total up for the TV, internet, and phone, along with the mortgage of the house.

After a few minutes, Mary grew bored and started doing handstands against the back of the couch, placing her feet against the wall. Sam looked up when he heard the sound of her shoe hitting the wall.

"Mary, please get your feet off the wall," he told her, looking back at his work.

Mary somersaulted off the couch and went over to kneel beside her dog, who was lying on her side, on the floor and petted her. "Good girl, Ammy," Mary praised for no reason except being her dog.

Sam closed out the files he had up on his computer and shut it off, "Tomorrow, Ammy has a visit at the groomers," he told Mary.

"Can I go, Daddy?" Mary asked, looking over at her father.

Sam licked each envelope closed. "Ammy is your dog," he smiled at her. "Besides, Uncle Dean and Jon will be gone all day so you have to, anyway."

"Where are they going?"

"Uncle Dean's taking Jon on a fishing trip at the lake." Sam gathered all the bills and stood up, pushing in his chair. "All right, let's go," he finally announced.

Mary stood up. "How come Uncle Dean never takes me fishing?"

"Because you hate fishing, you always quit on him. Besides, it's only something Uncle Dean and Jon do together." Sam ushered his daughter from his office as Ammy followed suit, at their heels, and turned out the light before shutting the door behind him.

"I never get to do anything with Uncle Dean," Mary said, folding her arms, tightly across her chest as she pouted.

"Okay, whatever, Mary," Sam laughed. "You spend more time with Uncle Dean than the rest of us does. We'll find something for the two of us to do after the groomers." The two of them headed downstairs. "Hey, maybe we could take Ammy to the dog park so she could play with other dogs. How's that sound?"

Mary shrugged, still crossing her arms.

"You need to share your uncle, Mare," Sam reminded his daughter, grabbing his keys off the kitchen counter. "You're not the only person in his life."

"But I'm his favorite," Mary told him and followed her father over to the front door.

"Your uncle better not be, playing favorites with you and your brother." Sam walked over and opened the door, letting Ammy go out and use the bathroom before they left. "Did your uncle say you were his favorite?"

"Yes," she replied.

"So if I ask him, Uncle Dean will say yes?" he asked of her, "Because if you're lying, I will wash your mouth out with soap when we get home."

Mary didn't respond after that, looking down at the floor as she wrung her hands.

"Mary Joanne," Sam warned. "Was that a lie?"

She nodded, slowly, not looking up at her father. "I thought I was his favorite."

Ammy wandered back in the house and Sam nudged his daughter by the back of the head, out the door. "Uncle Dean loves you and your brother, equally," he told her. Sam closed the front door and locked it with his house key, "Just like I do. None of us loves one of you more than the other. Do you understand?"

Mary nodded again and followed her father down the steps, towards his car. Sam unlocked his car door first to unlock Mary's door and opened it so she could climb in, into her booster seat. She fastened her seat belt as he shut her door and got into the driver's seat, closing his own door so Sam could start the car.

"The only reason you spend more time with Uncle Dean is because usually Jon has sports and I have to work, and you need someone to watch you, and he's the only one who can. That's why the two of them try to find as much time as possible to spend time with each other. Okay?" Sam explained to her as he put his own seatbelt on and finished in the rear-view mirror.

Mary nodded a third time and Sam smiled at her.

"Plus, the two of us don't get a lot of time together, either." He backed out of the driveway and started towards the post office first. "Since I pick Jon up from practice, we get time to talk. The two of us, hardly talk anymore." Sam continued to smile up at his daughter in the mirror. "Which, before I forget, we still need to talk about Derrick."

Mary moaned at the mention of Derrick's name. "But I don't want a play date with Derrick, Daddy. He calls Todd, fatty all the time and hurts his feelings."

"But I bet if you're nice to him and be his friend, Derrick won't call Todd that anymore," he shrugged. "I wish I had been nicer to bullies when I was a kid. Maybe it would have been easier."

Mary moaned some more, pushing her head back into the back of the seat.

"How about next Saturday, at two, just for a couple hours. Derrick and Todd can play at our house and your grounding should be up by then. That sound good?"

"But, Daddy…" Mary tried to protest.

"At least try it, Mare," Sam told her. "That's all I ask, is to try it one time and if it doesn't work, then you don't have to do it again. Okay? Can you, at least, humor me, sweetheart?"

She huffed, reminding Sam of him at that age when John was trying to get him to do something and Sam was being stubborn.

"Who knows," he shrugged, "you may just have a new best friend."

"I like having Todd as a best friend," said Mary.

"You can have two best friends. Uncle Dean and Uncle Cas are my best friends, along with Patrick from work," he told her. "Just ask him on Monday, for me. Okay?"

Mary nodded, staring at the floor.

Sam reached back, behind his seat to tickle her right knee, trying to get Mary to laugh but it wasn't working. "It will be okay, sweetheart," he said as he pulled his hand back. "I promise. I was bullied too, in school and I know it's no fun."

He had his iPod plugged into an iPod jack and went into his daughter's favorite music playlist, playing her favorite singer first. Eamonn McCrystal started singing his _This is the Moment_ song. "See, Eamonn understands," Sam smiled at his daughter, halfway through the song and started singing along, off key. "This is the moment, my final test. Destiny beckons, I never reckon second best. I won't look down, I must not fall. This is the moment, the sweetest moment of them all."

Mary just sat there, staring at her father. "Daddy, you're ruining the song," she told him, honestly.

"But he's right, it's your moment to step in and be nice to another person, and maybe make a difference in someone's life," he explained.

"Eamonn wouldn't say be friends with a bully."

Sam shrugged, "How would you know? Maybe he would."

Mary looked away, pressing her forehead to her window as she started singing along to the next song that was playing.

Sam eventually pulled into the parking lot of the post office and drove up to the mail box to drop off the bills before heading over to Fuzzy Larry's, which was right down the street. When the two of them walked in, they found Dean playing a shooting game, shooting werewolves.

Sam asked, when he walked up to his brother and saw what he was playing, "Really, Dean?"

"What?" Dean replied, in between shots. Keeping his voice down, he said, "If I can't shoot the real thing anymore, may as well get my fix out with an arcade game."

Sam just rolled his eyes. "Where's the boys?" he asked, looking around the busy, noisy arcade center as kids of different ages ran around and played video games.

"They took off as soon as I gave them their tokens," Dean told his brother and quickly shot a computerized werewolf that had popped up from behind a tombstone, holding the fake pistol like he held his own.

Mary was watching, intrigued.

"Did you get tokens for Mary too?"

"They're in my pocket, just let me finish off these werewolves." He shot two more before his time was up. "Yeah, high score, baby," Dean said, excited and looked over at Sam when he realized what he had said. "Never thought I would say werewolf and high score in the same sentence."

"Uncle Dean, I want to play you at skeeball," Mary told her uncle.

"Oh, so you want your butt kicked, is that it?" Dean snickered.

Mary gave her uncle a fake glare. "No, I'm going to kick your butt, Uncle Dean."

"Oh, you are, huh? Let's see about that." Dean raced his niece over to the skeeball games while Sam grabbed a table so he could do some work for a few cases on Monday on his laptop he had brought with him. Sam had never really been into video games, so he usually let Dean play with the kids when they came to Fuzzy Larry's, unless the kids asked him to play a game with them. So, for the majority of the time, Dean followed his niece around and helped her play the non-video games.

Mary had gotten upset when her uncle had beaten her quite a few times at skeeball so Dean pulled back and let his niece win a couple games. Jonathan and his friends had found where his father was sitting.

"Hey, Dad," he greeted his father.

Sam looked up from his laptop. "Hey, Jon," he replied. "Are you boys having fun?"

Jonathan nodded. "Can I have some money for something to eat?" he asked. "My friend's parents only gave them enough to feed themselves."

"Sure," Sam reached into the back pocket of his jeans and pulled out his wallet to look inside. He pulled out a ten dollar bill and handed it to his son. "Bring me back the change," he told him.

"I will. Thanks, Dad." Jonathan and his friends hurried over to the snack bar. After standing in line and ordering the food, the boys sat in the booth behind his father to eat.

Twenty minutes later, Dean walked over with Mary, who was holding a receipt in her hand. "Daddy, look how much tickets I have," she showed her father as Mary climbed onto the seat and sat on her legs, beside him.

Sam stopped typing, once more and took the receipt from her so he could look at it. "Wow, two hundred tickets," he told her, excited for his daughter. "How did you get that much?"

"Uncle Dean helped me," Mary admitted.

Sam nodded, smiling, "Oh." He figured most of those tickets were probably because of his brother. "Are you getting hungry yet?" They had to yell over the noise around them.

Mary nodded.

"I'll take her, Sam," Dean assured his brother. "You want me to bring you back something?"

"A salad," he said, "with a Coke."

Dean rolled his eyes at his brother's healthy eating habit and snickered to himself. Someone had to stay alive to take care of those kids, he guessed. "Come on, Tiger," Dean motioned to his niece, with his head.

Mary climbed off the seat and followed her uncle over to the snack bar, which Dean scooped her up, onto his side when the crowd grew thicker. He stood in line and asked Mary, "What would you like to eat?"

Mary looked over at the menu, above the cashiers.

"Hot dog, hamburger. We have plenty of pizza at home."

"Hot dog," she finally said.

"Hot dog?" Dean repeated. "Would you like ketchup and mustard?"

She nodded at him.

"What about to drink?"

"Lemonade," she told her uncle.

When Dean was able to step up to the counter, he set Mary down, in front of him and took out his wallet from his back pocket as he looked up at the menu. "Yeah, can I get a hot dog with ketchup and mustard, with a small lemonade?"

The teenaged cashier punched the order into the cash register. "Will that be all for you?" he asked when the boy looked up at Dean again.

"Also, can I get a salad with a medium Coke, and a bacon cheeseburger with extra onions, also with a medium Coke?" Dean finished. Mary was sticking to her uncle like glue, afraid of getting separated as he ordered and paid for their food. Dean stepped out of the way to wait for the food so the next person could order. Once they had their food, Dean carried the tray over to the table where Sam was sitting and passed out the food when he was sitting down.

After Mary and Dean were finished eating, Dean took her out some more so she could play games until it was time to go. All together, and with her uncle's help, Mary won four hundred tickets, winning a toy recorder. Dean was so glad she was riding home with his brother with that toy. When it was time to leave, the Winchesters and the boys went outside to where Sam and Dean had parked and piled into the cars, the boys with Dean again and Mary with Sam.

Dean had to drop the boys off, at their homes so Sam got home first. He carried his sleeping daughter inside the house and laid her down, in her bed and covered her up before heading downstairs to relax in front of the TV, figuring it would probably be leftover night for dinner, if anyone would even be hungry.


	5. Chapter 5

**Living the Dream**

Chapter 5

Dean woke his nephew, early the next morning for their fishing trip and helped each other pack. They tried to be extra quiet and fast enough to get out of the house before Mary woke up but since she slept through the whole night, she was awake when Dean was packing the cooler, and came downstairs.

"Are you and Jon going fishing, Uncle Dean?" she asked when she walked into the kitchen.

Dean was stuffing the condiments into the cooler. "Yes, we'll be home this afternoon," he told her.

"Can I go?"

"No, this is a man's trip, just me and Jon." Dean stood up and walked over to open the pantry, grabbing a few cans of soda for Jonathan and placed them in the cooler as well.

"But Daddy calls me a tomboy, isn't that close enough?"

Dean sighed, his eyes closed. He looked up at his niece. "Tiger, you know I love you but I also love your brother and sometimes we like to do things, just uncle and nephew and fishing has always been our thing since I moved in. You and me, we have our bonding time, and now it's Jon's turn. Okay?"

Tears were filling Mary's eyes as her bottom lip quivered.

"Besides, Tiger," he continued placing the soda in the cooler, "you don't even like fishing. The last time the four of us went to the lake, you refused when I offered to let you hold my fishing pole."

"But I can watch you and Jon," she tried to plead with her uncle with puppy dog eyes.

"I said no, Mary," Dean told his niece, sternly. "It is your brother's birthday and I promised him I would take him fishing, just the two of us."

"Yeah." Jonathan had walked into the family room and headed over to the kitchen. "And besides, you got to go deer hunting with Grandpa and that definitely wasn't fair."

"Shut up, Jon," Mary told her brother.

Jonathan stepped towards his sister, "Don't tell me to shut up, Mary," he glared at her.

"Both of you knock it off before you wake up your father," Dean roared at his niece and nephew. "Jon, is the equipment all in the trunk?"

"Yes," the boy nodded at him.

"Then take those bags on the table and take them out to the trunk next." Dean stood up once more and closed the cooler before picking it up by the handles. He followed his nephew out to the Impala after Jonathan grabbed the two plastic bags.

Mary followed them outside, still begging to go. Dean told his nephew to ignore her as they walked over to the open trunk and placed everything inside before Dean slammed it shut. Finally, he turned to his niece, "Get your dog and get inside," Dean told her in a stern voice.

"But I want to go, Uncle Dean," she told him.

"It's just me and Uncle Dean, Mary," Jonathan told his sister, annoyed.

"I will handle this, Jon," Dean assured him. "Thanks." He kneeled to his niece's level to try one more time to reason with her. "You and I, we play and see each other a lot but Jon and I, we don't. This is our thing, just like wrestling is yours and mine. I still love you, Mary but not more than your brother. Do you understand? I'm sure you and your dad will have a fun time today, with each other."

Mary shook her head, "I want to go with you."

At that point, Dean noticed Sam step outside, on the front porch so Dean stood up and took his niece by the hand to lead her over to him. Mary tried to resist until Dean physically picked her up, under his arm and carried her over as she was kicking and screaming. Dean passed her over to her father.

Sam took his daughter. "Have fun on your trip," he told his brother and called over to his son, "Catch a big one, Jon! Have fun!"

Jonathan waved back from the door of the Impala, "I will, Dad!"

"I love you," Sam had to add while trying to hold a screaming child.

Dean was walking over to the driver's side of the Impala.

"Love you too, Dad." Jonathan then slid into the front seat and shut his door, which Dean did the same and started the engine.

Sam waved as Dean backed out of the driveway and drove off, or tried to wave, at least. Mary was now balling her eyes out like someone was murdering her. Sam carried her inside, calling Ammy before closing the door with his foot and carried Mary over to the stairs to set her down and kneeled in front of her.

"What is going on, sweetheart? Why are you crying like this?" he asked, concerned.

"I wanted to go fishing with Uncle Dean, too!" Mary cried, loudly.

"It is Jon's time with Uncle Dean. I told you that yesterday, Mary." Sam held onto her upper arms, gently. "You have plenty of time with him."

Mary shrugged her father's hands away, "It's not fair!"

"Yes, it is fair," he told her, calmly.

"No, it's not!" she screamed the loudest as possible.

Sam stood up and tried to lift Mary to her feet. "Let's go, Mary," he told her, sternly when she tried to resist. "I think you woke up too soon."

"No!"

Like his brother had, Sam carried her up the stairs, under his arm. "You don't ever yell at me or tell me, no, Mary Joanne," he scolded his daughter as he walked up the stairs and carried Mary into her bedroom where he dropped her on her bed. "You can sit in here until you are calmed down and ready to talk."

Mary kicked her right foot up at her father. "I hate you, Daddy," she told him, angrily.

"I do not like it when you kick me or tell me you hate me," he said, still in a calm voice, holding onto the same foot. "I love you, very much." With that, Sam stood up and left the room, heading back downstairs.

Mary stood up and ran after him, standing at the railing to watch as her father descended the stairs. "I hate you!" she repeated, holding onto the wooden posts.

Sam stopped at the bottom of the stairs, looking up at his daughter, "Mary Joanne, get your butt back in your room or I will come up there and spank it," he threatened. "We had a good day yesterday and I would like to have another one."

Mary didn't move, instead she glared at him. Sam turned on the spot and started to head up the stairs again which made her sprint back to her room and jump on her bed. Once she was in her room once more, Sam stepped off the stairs and headed into the family room, leaning his hands on the kitchen counter, dropping his head as he shut his eyes.

It had seemed like ever since that whole mess from a month ago, Mary had started acting like her brother used to when he was around that age. Jonathan started lashing out because of their mother leaving them and threatened to hurt him, so why was Mary acting out? She was normally a well-behaved kid that only needed a warning now and then, now it seemed like Mary was in trouble, twice a week. Sam wondered if that demon bringing out her true powers had done anything to escalate this or if Mary was just acting out on her own.

Ammy slowly walked over and sat back on her haunches, panting up at Sam, getting his attention. He reached down and rubbed the dog's head before walking around the counter to feed her.

Meanwhile, Jonathan was staring out his window as his uncle drove to the lake. It was quiet except for the radio playing a classic rock station.

Dean looked over at his nephew. "What's wrong?" he finally asked him.

Jonathan huffed but didn't say anything.

"Come on, don't be like me and hold it in. I want this to be a great weekend for you." After the crappy childhood he and Sam had, Dean usually made the kids' birthdays the best they could ever have, as well as the other three hundred and sixty-four days of the year. "You know you can talk to me about anything."

"It ain't fair, Uncle Dean," Jonathan finally said after another five minutes.

Dean looked over at his nephew again. "What's not fair?"

"Grandpa and Grandma comes into our lives for a little bit and I get to spend time with Grandma while Mary goes off hunting with Grandpa." Jonathan switched his attention from the window to his uncle. He shrugged, "Don't get me wrong, I love Grandma but I should have been the one hunting with Grandpa. I'm the actual boy. Mary just acts like she's a boy. I'm named after Grandpa, for Pete's sake!"

"Listen, Jon," Dean told him, "What Mary did with your grandfather was not for fun. It was for something neither your dad nor me wanted either one of you to do. Your sister got handed a harsh reality the moment she read what was in that journal and almost screwed up her childhood. She was shooting deer for target practice, not for game. Understand?"

"Target practice for what?" he asked.

"Believe me, Jon, you don't want to know." Dean stared forward, watching the road.

"No, I do want to know," Jonathan said, persistently as more of his father came out. "What was so bad about Mary and I not able to know what was in that book that Mary had to train? What was she training for? How did she almost screw up her childhood? I deserve an explanation, Uncle Dean. I'm the only one in this family who doesn't."

"And your father and I are trying to keep it that way," Dean told his nephew, raising his voice which took Jonathan by surprise. He shook his head, glancing at the road out of the corner of his eye, lowering his voice, "Trust me when I say it was lucky of your dad that he got to go back to school and become a lawyer, find your mom and have you and your sister. I was relieved and thrilled when I heard he got out of our past life. Hell, I am proud of myself every night when I hit my pillow that another day went by I didn't come out of retirement and leave again." He looked ahead for a while. "You have a bright future ahead of you, Jon. You can do anything you want to. Your dad and I are basically trying to shove those memories Mary got from those times, away just so we can fix what happened and hopefully not let her fall into the life we lived for our entire lives."

"But you don't know if me knowing the truth would ruin my life," Jonathan tried to tell his uncle.

Dean sighed, looking out his window for a moment before facing forward again. "I do, Jon," he told him, quietly. "Your grandfather and I tried to do the same with your dad, shield him from the truth, but like Mary, he was curious and took matters into his own hands and stole your grandfather's journal and read it. Shortly after, his training started just like Mary's did and since then, your dad hadn't been the same." Dean shrugged, "Your dad did manage to get away when he graduated high school but the job caught up to him, eventually and it sucked him back in and a whole bunch of stuff happened I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy." He turned to look at his nephew, "I don't want that to happen to you or Mary and neither does your dad. We love you and only want what's best for you."

It was silence for a while before Dean continued. "I always tell your dad that we should keep moving, that we shouldn't live in the same house for too long but he says he loves our house and doesn't want to uproot you kids." Dean shrugged, looking ahead at the road, "you have your friends. Mary finally made a friend herself. I don't want to move you both either. But when I think about what's…" His voice was starting to crack.

"Does this have anything to do with why we lay salt all over the doors and windows?" Jonathan asked, curious.

Dean breathed in through his nose and took a deep breath. "So how's school going?" he asked, changing the subject, not wanting to continue the discussion.

Jonathan knew not to push his uncle but he wanted to continue. He really wanted to know everything and always fought the urge to sneak into his uncle's bedroom and steal that journal for himself, even though he had given his sister such a hard time, reading it and convinced her to turn herself in. It wasn't any fun being the only person in their family to be in the dark and Jonathan guessed if he asked his father, he could probably relate to how he felt if Sam had done the same thing he contemplated.

Finally, Jonathan just told his uncle, "School's great. We're playing Capture the Flag in P.E. all week."

"Sounds like fun," Dean told him. "How's your grades?"

"Two As and the rest are Bs," he replied.

"I'm proud of you, Jon," Dean reached over and clamped a hand on the boy's shoulder, proudly.

Jonathan forced a smile for his uncle. For the rest of the drive to the lake, the two of them just talked about guy stuff.

Sam sat on the couch, watching early Sunday morning TV programming when Mary slowly wandered in, sliding along the wall of the entryway between the living room and the family room.

"Daddy," she spoke up, quietly.

"Are you calmed down enough to talk?" he asked of his daughter.

Mary nodded her head at him as she sucked on her thumb.

Sam leaned forward on the couch, turning the TV off and set it on the coffee table. "Come here, sweetheart," he told her.

Mary wandered over to her father and allowed him to pull her onto his right leg. She laid her head against his right shoulder, "I'm sorry for telling you I hate you, Daddy. I don't hate you," she shook her head at the last part.

Sam smiled, warmly, "I am so glad to hear that, sweetheart." She was sucking her thumb again so he had to remove it from her mouth for her. "No sucking your thumb, okay?"

She nodded.

"Why were you acting like that before?" he asked, gently as Sam held his daughter in his arms. "Your behavior hasn't been acceptable lately and I'm starting to get worried. Can you tell me what's going on?"

Mary shrugged, staring at the floor.

"Were you just upset about your uncle leaving?"

She nodded, this time.

"Sweetheart, don't you think your brother wants one-on-one time with your uncle too? You both really love your uncle and I think Jon deserves it just as much as you do." Sam brushed some of Mary's brown hair, behind her right ear with his fingers.

Mary sniffled, quietly. "I like being with Uncle Dean," she admitted.

"I know you do and Jon likes being with him too, especially since they share things they both like to do. You have to share your uncle, just like you have to share other things with your brother, like the Wii. Understand?"

She nodded, slowly.

"Your uncle loves you, very much and loves spending time with you but he can't just spend time with you, he wants to do things with Jon." Sam shrugged, "I wish I could spend time and have fun with Uncle Dean too but I have to work and pay bills."

"I'm still mad at Jon, and I'm mad at Uncle Dean too," she said, in a small, angry tone.

"Okay, but that's not being fair to them." Sam really didn't want to repeat himself again. Even with Mary being one of the best students in her class, she still didn't understand life lessons that well and he tried his best to remain calm with her and not show he was frustrated.

"I don't care," Mary muttered.

Sam still heard her. "Mary, what has gotten into you? Where is all this bitterness coming from? You used to be so sweet, and now you're been acting out a lot, and fighting with your brother more, and talking back to your uncle and myself. What's going on? Talk to me so I can help."

Mary shook her head.

"Are you just upset about Derrick and you feel you have to take it out on us?" Sam continued to get to the bottom of it.

She shook her head a second time.

"Does it have anything to do with school? The district spring test is coming up soon, your teacher says. Are you nervous or stressed out about it?"

She shook her head a third time.

"Is it something one of us is doing? Are we putting too much pressure on you, expecting more from you than you can handle?"

Mary continued to shake her head, no as her father tried to guess what was making her misbehave.

Sam shifted his daughter on his lap and held her in her arms and tried to think of what else could be going on. "Is it because of what happened with those scary monsters, a month ago?" he finally asked.

"Stop guessing, Daddy," Mary told her father, starting to feel frustrated with him now. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Sweetheart," he replied, "how can I help you if you don't talk about it? I don't want to have to fight with you and have to punish you and I'm sure Uncle Dean doesn't either. We like it when you listen and have fun with us. I bet Uncle Dean probably wanted to hug and kiss you good-bye."

"But he didn't," Mary said, bitterly.

"No, because you were acting like a spoiled brat," he told her.

Mary didn't respond to her father.

"Well, I wish you would talk to me but if you don't want to then you don't have to. Can you come talk to us when you are ready?" Sam shrugged, "I don't care if you come talk to me or Uncle Dean but I would appreciate it if you talked to one of us so we can resolve this and have better days like we used to."

Mary just snuggled more into her father's shoulder.

Sam gently nudged her off, "Come on," he told her. "Let's get dressed so we can take Ammy to her appointment."

She slid off her father's leg and Sam followed her upstairs.


	6. Chapter 6

**Living the Dream**

Chapter 6

Instead of taking Ammy to a professional groomer, Mary asked if they could bathe and brush her, themselves. Sam was really impressed with how much responsibility Mary wanted to take on with taking care of her dog. He did agree and called the groomer's to cancel. First, Sam thought they would need supplies so the two of them drove up to the Wal-Mart and picked up special shampoo for dogs, along with a couple brushes for dogs with thick coats and let Mary help in the decisions.

Back home, father and daughter filled up Mary's old, plastic swimming pool that had been in the garage, unused for a couple years now. Sam used the hose to wet Ammy down, holding the leash on his left wrist so she couldn't jump out. Next was the shampoo.

"Make sure you don't get any soap in her eyes or ears," Sam said as he and Mary lathered the shampoo into Ammy's fur. Ammy was actually holding still better than he thought she would but now and then would try to escape.

Once the dog was all lathered well, Sam used a large, plastic cup to rinse Ammy off. All was thought in the clear how dry Sam and Mary were but when Sam shut off the hose, they got wet from Ammy trying to shake her fur dry.

"Ammy," Sam smiled as he heard Mary laugh.

"Ammy," she giggled as they shielded themselves.

Using a couple of towels, both of them dried Ammy off after Sam got the dog out of the small pool and used the dog brushes to brush out the loose damp, fur Ammy was shedding.

"Make sure the fur goes in the bag," Sam reminded his daughter as he combed through the white fur along the dog's neck. "You're doing a good job, sweetheart."

Mary combed along the dog's back, pulling out the loose fur from the teeth of the brush and placed it inside the plastic grocery bag they were using.

After Ammy was all groomed and pampered, Mary wanted to kick around her soccer ball, so she and her father played around their yard, trying to keep the ball away from each other. Even Ammy joined in the fun, pushing the ball with her nose. Everything that had happened that morning, Mary had forgotten as she had fun with her father and dog.

Meanwhile, Dean had finally pulled up to the lake and parked in the designated parking area and the two of them unloaded the trunk, setting up along the bank of the lake. Even though Jonathan was already, pretty much an expert, Dean still helped his nephew bait his hook before letting him cast his line out.

While they fished, the two of them continued to just talk, bonding closer together as uncle and nephew. Some of the time, Dean couldn't help be reminded of the year when he was living with Lisa and Ben and when he had taken Ben fishing once. It was only once though, even though he had promised Ben he would take him again. He wondered if Ben ever found a father to be there for him. There were times when Dean regretted having Castiel wipe out their memories and make them forget him. Dean wasn't going to make any mistakes with his niece and nephew.

Both Dean and Jonathan sat on the cooler, waiting for the first nibbles as Jonathan told his uncle about a girl he liked in his class, at school. Dean gave him advice on how he could tell her he liked her and maybe even ask the girl out on a date.

Eventually, it was Jonathan who had the first catch. For the first few hours, all they caught were garbage and small fish until finally, Jonathan caught a pretty good sized fish. Dean wasn't so lucky but after the hard work of reeling it in and his patience fishing, he was very proud of his nephew. It was around two in the afternoon when they decided to call it a day and head home.

Around one PM, after Sam and Mary were showered and washed up, Sam fixed macaroni and cheese for lunch, mixing Mary's portion with tuna. No one knew why but Mary liked macaroni and cheese that way. The brothers and Jonathan thought it was gross-sounding but Mary loved it. Sam was the only brave one to try it as an example to the kids. It wasn't the best tasting but if his daughter enjoyed it, then it was fine with him if Mary ate it.

When lunch was over, Mary helped her father load the dishwasher and let him read to her in his bed, eventually both of them falling asleep, even though Sam was trying to get Mary to fall sleep. He still believed Mary was young to take a nap in the afternoon while Dean thought she was getting too old for one and Sam had to point out how he would fall asleep, sometimes in the afternoon. Dean didn't argue with his brother after that.

Mary slept soundly in her father's arms for three hours before she woke up to the familiar sound of her uncle's car pull into the driveway and climbed down from Sam's bed to run downstairs, where Dean and Jonathan was coming through the front door.

"Uncle Dean!" she said, excitedly as she ran over to her uncle.

Dean lifted his niece up, into his arms and hugged her. "Hey, Tiger," he greeted her, happily. "Did you have a good day like I said you would?"

Mary nodded at him, with a big smile on her face. "We gave Ammy a bath instead of letting the groomers do it, and then we played soccer outside."

"See, I told you, you and your dad would have fun," Dean kissed his niece's cheek.

"Mary, want to see the fish I caught for dinner, tonight?" Jonathan smiled up at his sister.

Mary nodded. "But I'm not touching it," she told him.

Dean laughed a little at that. "Where's your dad?" he asked.

"Still sleeping," she told her uncle.

"Well, go wake him up so he can see Jon's fish." Dean set Mary down on her feet and sent her upstairs with a playful swat to her bottom while he and Jonathan brought everything into the garage.

Mary ran upstairs and into her father's bedroom to climb back up, onto the bed. She crawled over to her father and pressed her hands into his lower back. "Daddy, wake up," she bounced on him with her arms. "Uncle Dean and Jon are home."

Sam stirred, looking back, over his left shoulder at his daughter. "What, sweetheart?" he asked her, still a little groggily.

"Uncle Dean and Jon are home. Jon says he caught a fish for dinner," she told him.

He sat up, placing his feet on the floor. "Okay, tell them I will be down in a minute," he yawned.

"Okay." Mary then ran back out.

Sam rubbed at the back of his head and looked at his digital alarm clock that read, _4:16pm_. He then stood up, grabbing his iPhone, and headed downstairs where Dean was starting to show his nephew how to prepare a fish.

Dean looked up when he saw his brother coming into the room and shook his head at Sam's bed head. "I said it once, I'll say it again. Give me some clippers and a few minutes, man. You and Jon."

Sam smirked at him, "Shut up, Dean." He walked over and wrapped an arm around his son, "How was the fishing trip?" he asked Jon.

Jon looked up at his father, "We mostly caught trash and small fish but look at this one."

Sam looked at the fish in Dean's hands he was tending to in the kitchen sink. "Wow, that is a big one, Jon. Great job, buddy," he praised, proudly.

"Jon, get your butt over here to help me," Dean motioned for the kid, teasingly. "This is your fish, after all." He then walked his nephew through the steps of preparing and cooking fish like Bobby had taught him once.

"Mary, feed Ammy," Sam reminded her as she watched her uncle and brother.

"Oh yeah." Mary opened the cupboard and grabbed the cup inside the bag of dog food, scooping the food into it and took it over to pour inside Ammy's food dish so she could eat. She tried to return to watching her uncle and brother cook but Sam scooped her up and told her to go get ready for bed since it was a school night, kissing her cheek before putting her down on her bare feet.

Once the fish was done cooking, along with rice and vegetables, the family sat down to dinner. Jonathan told his father about the different trash they kept fishing up.

"I can't believe the garbage that end up in the lake. How do the fish survive?" Jonathan was saying.

Sam shrugged, "People just don't seem to care anymore."

"They should if they want to continue to fish," he replied.

"And I agree one hundred percent," Sam agreed with his son. "But you had a great time with your uncle though, right?"

Jonathan nodded, "Sure did. Right, Uncle Dean?" he looked over at his uncle who was cutting the side of his fork into his piece of the cooked fish.

He grinned, "You bet."

Sam reached across the table to move his daughter's glass of milk away from her plate, setting it to his left. "Don't just drink your milk, Mary. Eat your dinner too," he told her.

Mary picked up her fork and started eating her dinner.

"I think the dog needs to sleep outside tonight," Dean commented, frankly.

Mary wasn't elated to hear him say her dog should sleep outside.

"Why?" Sam asked, confused.

"Because it smells like wet dog all over the house and it stinks," he told him, disgusted.

"Ammy is not sleeping outside, Uncle Dean. She sleeps with me, in my room," Mary protested to her uncle.

"Make sure you shut your door then."

"Dean, Ammy is dry by now. It's the smell that's still lingering around the house."

"I told you we shouldn't have gotten a dog but does anyone listen to me? Nope," Dean complained. "Now there's dog hair all over the floor and furniture, the house smells constantly, and it likes to watch me when I walk by. Sometimes I wonder if it's a you-know-what and I should clip a silver bullet to it."

"No, you can't kill Ammy, Uncle Dean," Mary cried as if he was really about to do it. "Ammy is my dog and I love her." There were actually tears starting to form. "Ammy didn't do anything wrong."

"Will you relax?" Dean tried to assure her. "I'm not gonna shoot your dog unless I really have to and I don't. The dog's perfectly safe from harm."

Mary sniffed in, "You promise?"

Dean touched her left hand, affectionately, "I promise." He then leaned over and kissed her forehead.

Since Jonathan helped cook, Mary had to help wash dishes. Sam rinsed off each dish and handed it to her to place in the dishwasher. Occasionally, he had to stop to maneuver dishes around so they would fit better. Once the kitchen was clean, Mary hurried over to her uncle who was lying on the couch, watching TV.

"Uncle Dean, can you read to me, tonight?" she asked him.

"Not tonight, I'm tired," he yawned. "How about you read to me?"

"Okay," Mary replied. "What book do you want?"

Dean smiled at his niece, "Surprise me."

Mary hurried upstairs to grab one of her books, bringing back _The Cat in the Hat_. Dean paused the TV show and let his niece lay down with him, holding her in his left arm as she started to read to him. During the story, Dean smiled as Mary read, perfectly and kissed the side of her head, twice before she finished.

"Great job, Tiger," he praised her and kissed her one last time as Dean gave her a hug, good night. "Sleep tight, okay? I love you."

"I love you too, Uncle Dean," Mary said and kissed his cheek. She stood up and headed back upstairs to her room.

Once both kids were asleep, in bed, Sam came into the family room and sat down in the recliner, closest to the kitchen. "Hey, Dean. Mind if we talk for a few minutes?"

"Come on, can it at least wait until after Dr. Sexy?" Dean complained about his TV show getting interrupted for the second time. He was fine with his niece interrupting him since she was really cute but his brother knew better.

"Dean…." Sam rolled his eyes. "How is that show even still on? It's been on for over a decade."

"Hey, as long as there's people in need of medicine, Dr. Sexy will always be around," Dean pointed his finger at him.

"Yeah, sure. Whatever. Call me when you're ready." Sam stood up and headed for the stairs. "I'll be in my office, working on my client's paperwork for court, tomorrow."

When Sam was gone, Dean rewinded what he had missed and continued watching his favorite TV show. After the show ended, Dean turned the TV off and made sure both the front door and the side door was double locked and the salt was still in place, on the window sills. Turning off the light in the family room, Dean headed upstairs to his brother's home office.

"So what did you want to talk to me about?" he asked Sam as Dean shut the door behind him.

Sam finished up the report he was typing, saving the document before turning his chair to face his brother, who was sitting on the edge of the couch now. "I've been a little worried with Mary, lately and her getting into trouble, more often now. I tried to get her to talk to me but it's like trying to get you to talk about your feelings."

Dean leaned back, his arms folded across his chest. "I noticed that, myself with the whole screaming and talking back. I don't know where it came from either," he shrugged.

"Do you think we should be concerned?" Sam asked. "Does it seem like a cry for attention?"

"No," Dean shook his head, "Mary gets plenty of attention already, to the point where she's probably spoiled."

"Makes sense," Sam shrugged. "We try to give the kids more attention than Dad gave us and in the end, we gave Mary too much."

Dean leaned forward, again, "I think getting Mary into more activities like soccer or karate would benefit her. Get her out of the house more, meet new kids," he suggested.

"Right, that's a good idea. I'm taking Jon on Saturday, to register for soccer, so I'll take Mary too." Sam was looking through his inbox, deleting old emails and spam that had gotten into it. "I'm hoping, getting Mary involved with more things to do will keep her out of trouble."

"Me, too." Dean stood up and stretched his arms out. "Well, I'm going to bed. Am I taking the kids to school, in the morning or are you?"

"I will, I have to remind Mary to do something for me," Sam told him.

Dean was too tired to ask what it was Sam wanted Mary to do and just headed off to bed. Sam had to stay up another hour before he finally headed off to bed as well.


	7. Chapter 7

**Living the Dream**

Chapter 7

Weekday mornings in the Winchester household were usually chaotic with everyone running around, trying to get everything ready and Dean yelling and pounding on the kids' bedroom doors, hurrying them along. Sam would have loved to be able to sit down in the morning and eat a balanced breakfast with his brother and kids but that usually never happened and the kids end up eating a granola or breakfast bar on the way out the door.

Sam was usually the first one up and was the first to wake up the kids before showering and getting dressed in his business attire. Once he was dressed, he would swing by Jonathan's room and wake him up again. The boy usually falls back to sleep, sometimes after he gets dressed. Jonathan isn't really a morning person like his sister is, so it's harder to get him out of bed.

Once his kids are up, Sam would rush downstairs and start to pack everyone's lunch except Dean's. Dean came home on his lunch break to eat lunch and let Ammy out to do her business. Usually Mary came downstairs while Sam was finishing up with the lunches and that morning wasn't anything different.

"All ready to go, Mare?" he asked his daughter.

"Yup," she replied. "Is there time to have Lucky Charms, Daddy?"

Sam glanced at his watch as he was zipping the sandwich bags closed and placed them in each kid's lunchbox. "No, we have five minutes to get out the door." He hurried over to the pantry to grab two random bags of chips and a breakfast bar for Mary, tossing it overhand to her who caught it in two hands.

Mary looked at the breakfast bar. "Can I have strawberry instead?" she asked.

Sam was arranging the lunches inside the lunchboxes, including two Capri Sun juice pouches in each. "Mary, can you just eat that one? I'm trying to get your lunch packed."

"Don't pack anything messy, Mrs. Congo doesn't like messy food in her classroom and I have to eat with her today, remember?" Mary explained.

"Is ham and cheese considered messy?" Sam asked, glancing around the fridge.

Mary shook her head, "No but would Go-gurt be messy? I want that for lunch."

"As long as you don't spill or drop it, you should be fine. Should I pack a Go-gurt for you and your brother, today?" he asked with his hand on the freezer door handle.

Mary grew excited, jumping up and down, "Yeah!"

"What do you say?" he reminded her, sternly.

"I mean yes, please." Mary quit bouncing.

Sam grabbed two Go-gurts from the freezer, along with three ice packs and placed them in each lunchbox, including his and zipped them closed. He handed Mary hers, over the counter and handed Jonathan his when he finally stumbled into the family room with his own backpack. Mary still had a cartoon backpack since she was still younger while Jonathan already was using a plain, dark green backpack. Jonathan's lunchbox was of _Pirates of the Caribbean_ though.

Sam grabbed a breakfast bar for Jonathan, tossing it to him as well before grabbing his briefcase he keeps his paperwork and laptop in, and started herding his kids towards the door. "Dean, we're leaving!" Sam called up to his brother.

"Bye, Uncle Dean!" the kids also called upstairs as they headed towards the front door.

Dean came running out his bedroom, dressed in his usual attire and hurried down the stairs. "Hold up. No one's leaving without a hug and kiss."

Mary met her uncle at the bottom of the stairs and allowed him to lift her up, long enough to hug and kiss her, good-bye. With Jonathan, they exchanged high-fives and "have a good day at school/work" before finally getting out the door and into Sam's car. By seven-fifteen, they were on the road, heading towards the school.

Sam was lecturing his kids about their morning routine.

"Come on, Dad," Jonathan shrugged. "We're out the door on time, aren't we?"

"Yes, but that's not the point, Jon. I mean, do you like having to rush in the morning and not able to eat a good, nutritious breakfast other than a breakfast bar?" he asked his son.

"Yeah, that would be great. Our couch told us how important breakfast is for a player," he admitted.

"Right," Sam agreed. "So, tomorrow morning, can we please try and wake up on time? All I'm asking is to at least try. Okay?" He looked between his kids, looking at Mary through the rear-view mirror.

"I want cereal for breakfast, tomorrow," said Mary.

"I was thinking more of maybe scrambled eggs and toast. Can we do that first?"

She nodded.

"Okay, so that's gonna be tomorrow morning's goal. Everyone got that?" Sam looked at Jonathan first, who nodded, "yes, Dad," and looked at his daughter, next, who also agreed. "And what's your goal for today, Mare?"

Mary moaned as she suddenly remembered what her father and her had talked about on Saturday.

"Mary," Sam warned her in a stern voice.

"Be nice to Derrick and invite him over to our house, on Saturday," she recited, unenthusiastically. "But, Dad…"

"There's no discussion about this, anymore, Mary. I'm just asking you to try it once and if he says no or doesn't want to, then you're okay. But there is no excuse for not being nice to someone," he told her.

Mary didn't say anything else the rest of the way to the school. When her father pulled up, beside the curb, she scooted over to get out on her brother's side. Sam ran his hand through his son's brown hair that grew out like his own, only a little shorter as he told Jonathan to have a good day at school. Mary started walking up to the school without a good-bye or at least a kiss.

"So what, you're mad at me, now?" he called after her.

Mary didn't respond or look back.

"At least wave to me, Mary. It's rude to ignore someone."

Mary waved her hand up, but still didn't look back at her father. Sam let out a miserable sigh as he watched his daughter walk away. When the kids were inside the school building, Sam walked around and slid back into his car and pulled away from the curb, heading towards work next.

Mary found her best friend, Todd, who was a chubby kid with short, blond hair and hurried over to the swings. She then filled him in on what her father wanted her to do.

"No way, we have to be nice to Derrick?" Todd asked in shock.

She nodded. "If you don't want to come over and have to play with him too, you don't have to. Derrick is meaner to you and I don't want him being mean to you. I don't care what he says to me." Mary was swinging on her stomach, pushing the swing forward until she couldn't anymore and picked up her feet to swing.

"I don't like it at your house, anyway," he said, making circles in the sand with his right foot.

Mary asked, "How come?"

"Your dad and uncle scares me. Your dad is so tall and your uncle sounds mean, sometimes."

Mary moved her swing over to Todd, closer, "Don't be scared of my dad and Uncle Dean, they're both big teddy bears. They will protect you from anything." She then started twisting her swing until she could barely touch the ground. Todd quickly moved his swing, afraid he would be hit if he didn't and watched as Mary lifted her feet and spun the other way around, fast.

"I never saw your other uncle laugh. He scares me even more," he added when Mary slowed down and twisted back and forth.

"Uncle Cassie? He's as nice as an angel," she assured the boy. "You have nothing to worry about. Uncle Cassie's gotten 'tric-ter since Gabe started hanging around but my dad says he still means well."

Todd nodded, still terrified of his best friend's family but not as much as before.

Eventually, the morning bell rang and the students had to go inside, to their classrooms. Mary's class worked on language arts and art first before they were able to have morning recess. Once outside, Mary took a deep breath like her father taught her to do as she watched Derrick pick on another student.

"You sure you want to do this, Mary?" Todd asked, shaking from fright, behind her as he watched Derrick too. "I'd rather be grounded than have to face Derrick."

"I have to, Todd or my dad will be mad at me." She took another deep breath and walked over to the other kid. Derrick was dark-skinned and had short, curly black hair and brown eyes. He had on a white T-shirt and baggy jeans. "Hey Derrick," she waved at him.

Derrick looked over from the scrawny, brown-haired boy he was picking on. "Look, it's Mary and her fat lamb," he laughed, immediately.

"Don't call Todd, a fat lamb, Derrick. It's not nice," she defended her best friend.

"Fine, then I will make fun of you and how you have queer parents instead of a mom and dad," he told her, teasingly.

"I don't even know what that means but don't call my uncle Dean and my dad names either," Mary defended her father and uncle, as well.

"Oh, is that what you call them? Do they kiss?" Derrick laughed even more which only made Mary angry as he made kissing noises.

Mary's fists were starting to tighten at her sides. "Leave them alone, Derrick," she spat at him.

"Oh, is your girly brother gonna come beat me up?"

"Jon is not girly!" Mary was getting louder each time she spat out words at the other kid.

"He has hair like a girl." Derrick shrugged, "I figured your dad was your mom since he has long hair too."

"I said, leave them alone!" Mary then shoved Derrick back.

Derrick stood his ground and shoved back. "I'm not going to let a little bitch push me," he told her.

Mary stumbled back into the dirt. She felt like just sitting there and crying but Derrick kept up with the harsh insults that something came over her and Mary lashed out at the boy, shoving him to the ground and started punching him, repeatedly. Todd tried to persuade her to stop before she got herself in more trouble but Mary wasn't listening to him, instead she continued to punch the kid in the face.

If luck would have it, Jonathan was walking past the playground, running an errand for his teacher when he saw his sister on top of another student and quickly dashed over to get her off of him, quickly passing the orange envelope he was carrying to Todd.

"Mary, stop!" he told her as he tried to wrestle with her. Mary was trying to run back over to Derrick, angry still. "Mary, I said stop! Whatever Derrick did, it ain't worth it. You're gonna get into more trouble with the school and at home."

"But he made fun of Todd, and Daddy, and Uncle Dean!" she cried out as tears were pouring down both sides of her face.

"They're just words, Mary." Jonathan continued to struggle with his sister as she tried to pull free from his grip until Derrick made a run for it. She tried to run after him but her brother kept a firm grip on her, eventually wrestling her to the ground. "Don't be like me. Remember when I got suspended from school for fighting with that kid? Just because Dad didn't punish me, doesn't mean I wasn't in trouble with the school. It goes on your permanent record, Mary. It stays with you all the way to college. Don't go down mine or Uncle Dean's path. Learn from us."

After a few minutes, Mary started feeling tired and stopped struggling against her brother and just cried in his arms as they sat there in the dirt, both of them covered all over their full backsides.

"It's okay, Mary," he assured his sister. "Some kids are jerks but you have to learn to ignore them. All they want is a response out of you. You just have to ignore them." Jonathan held his sister as the younger kids' teacher, Mrs. Congo came walking up with Derrick right behind her.

"There she is, Mrs. Congo. Mary hit me and made my nose bleed," Derrick tattled, pointing down at Mary.

"Mary Winchester, is that true?" Mrs. Congo demanded of Mary, with her hands on her hips. The woman was in her fifties and was short, a little taller than Jonathan by a foot. She had short, black, greying hair.

Jonathan got to his feet and helped his sister to hers, brushing the dirt off the both of them. "Just tell your teacher what happened, Mare," he told her, softly and used his hand to wipe away her tears from her face.

Mary sniffed in. "Derrick said mean things about Todd and my family," she started to explain as she tried to keep her breathing steady. "I didn't mean to start punching him but I got really mad and then I just did. I'm really sorry, Mrs. Congo."

"You need to tell that to Derrick and follow me to the office. I think a conference with your father or uncle is needed, as well as a suspension from school. Come on, let's go, young lady," the teacher told her, sternly.

Mary's eyes grew large at that realization of her father and uncle finding out about this. She quickly shook her head, "No, please don't tell my dad or uncle Dean, Mrs. Congo. I promise I won't do it again, I swear."

"You know the rules, Miss Winchester," Mrs. Congo said, shaking her head as well. "Now tell Derrick you're sorry. Derrick, you better tell Mary you're sorry for saying mean things about her family and tell Todd you're sorry, too." She had turned on Derrick, who was not expecting that.

The kids reluctantly apologized to each other. Jonathan had taken the envelope back from Todd and told Mrs. Congo that he had to drop it off at the office anyway, so he would walk with his sister for support. Mrs. Congo allowed it as they started heading in the direction of the school's nurse's office first. Once they headed inside the main office, Jonathan sat his sister on one of the cushioned metal chairs and walked over to the front desk to hand over the envelope from his teacher, before rejoining his sister.

"I have to get back to class, okay Mare?" he told his sister, softly. "My teacher's probably wondering what's taking me so long. It'll be okay though, I promise. You know Dad and Uncle Dean will want to hear your side of the story first."

"I know I'm going to get a spanking when we get home, and Dad and Uncle Dean are gonna be really mad too," she sniffled between words.

Jonathan held his arm around his sister. "But it won't hurt forever and you know Uncle Dean takes pity on us when someone else starts it or makes us mad. Maybe you won't get a spanking. They don't always give us one and this is your first fight, right?"

She nodded against him, staring at the blue and white tiled floor.

"Maybe Dad and Uncle Dean will let you off with a warning, this time," he shrugged as Mrs. Congo came out from the principal's office and over to the siblings.

"Shouldn't you be getting back to class, sweetheart?" she asked Jonathan. "Would you like me to write you a pass to let your teacher know why it took a while?"

"Sure, that would be great. Thanks," he told her.

Mrs. Congo walked over to the front desk and filled out a yellow pass form. "What's your name, sweetheart?" she turned back around.

"Jon Winchester, ma'am."

She nodded and turned back to the form to finish filling it out before she ripped it off the pad and brought it over to Jonathan, who thanked her again. "Your father isn't answering his phone," Mrs. Congo turned her attention to Mary. "But your uncle is on his way. Just wait there, okay?"

Mary nodded. Out of her father and uncle, she wished it was her father who was coming. Sam was usually more compassionate when it came to the kids getting into trouble at school. It didn't mean they were normally saved from punishment though, but Sam was more lenient than Dean. Jonathan hugged his sister one more time before he stood up and headed back to his class. Mary wished her brother didn't have to leave but knew he had to get back to class.

She sat there and waited for what seemed like forever to her as she gripped her seat in both of her hands. Time seemed to move slowly as she waited for her uncle to walk through those main, double doors. A lump kept forming in her throat as she anticipated the spanking she would likely receive when her and her uncle got home. Looking around for any students nearby, Mary began sucking on her thumb, bringing her knees up to her.

Then she realized one important thing. If Mary was going to be suspended from school that meant Todd would be unprotected from Derrick. She couldn't let her best friend be teased and bullied. She just couldn't.

Before she knew it, one of the double doors opened and in walked Dean. He saw his niece sitting there and started to walk over to her, kneeling down beside her chair.

"All right, start talking, kid," he told her, sounding a lot harsher than he had intended. There were times when his father came out when he was talking to his niece and nephew even though he tried not to. "What happened? Why did the school call your father and me?"

Mary had removed her thumb, quickly when she saw her uncle walk in. "I was just being nice and was going to ask if Derrick wanted to come over to our house like Daddy told me to and Derrick started saying mean things about Todd and our family for no reason. I didn't mean to get so mad and shove Derrick to the ground and give him a bloody nose but I did and I'm really sorry, Uncle Dean. Honest. Derrick just makes me so mad and I didn't want to even talk to him but Daddy made me, and…"

Dean held up his hand to interrupt his niece. "Woah, woah, woah," he said. "Your dad said to invite Derrick over to our house? Why?"

"Because he said I should be nice to Derrick so he won't be mean anymore," she told him what her father had told her.

"You don't act nice to a bully," he shook his head. "Confronting a bully is basically looking for trouble. Did you even get to asking him?"

Mary shook her head.

"We're having a little chat with your dad when he gets home, tonight. Not saying what you did was right but this whole thing could have been easily avoided." Dean stood back up as Mrs. Congo came out with a man in his fifties. His hair was grey and thinning out.

"Mister Winchester, this is Mr. Rodgers, our school principal," she introduced.

Dean shook the principal's hand. "It's funny. You don't look a thing like the Mr. Rodgers on TV. Where's the sweater?" he laughed.

Mary face palmed into her right hand, embarrassed for her uncle.

Dean cleared his throat, feeling the awkward tension. "It was just a joke," he forced a smile but no one was laughing with him. "Anyway, I got the story from Mary already. What's the deal? What's going to happen to my niece?"

"Let's talk in my office, shall we?" Mr. Rodgers led all of them, including Mary back to his office where he shut the door behind him.

Dean remembered all too well, having to meet with the principal with his father there, many times and John was never happy to be there, unless it was about Sam and how he was a really good student and qualified for some kind of award. Dean knew his niece was probably terrified so when he sat down, he pulled Mary onto his right knee while Mrs. Congo sat in the chair next to him. Mr. Rodgers walked over and sat on his side of the desk, pulling his chair closer to look over the report that was just made, putting his glasses on.

"Over the past few weeks, Mary has gotten lunch detentions for minor tufts with another student but this is her first time, physically lashing out at someone. Correct?" Mr. Rodgers began.

Mrs. Congo nodded once, "Correct. It surprised me when Derrick came to me with a bloody nose and said that Mary had punched him. Mary is normally a sweet, little girl, very good student who just argues when she's upset."

"You said Mary had also got into it with the same student, last Friday?" he asked.

"Yes, but that was a simple shove that didn't need a conference."

Finally, Dean couldn't hold his tongue any longer. "Okay, so where is Derrick now? He's also being punished, right? Not just my niece."

"All Derrick did was done a little name-calling, Mister Winchester," she told Dean. "Mary physically assaulted another student and that is not tolerated here, at this school."

"Oh, so it's all right for a kid to disrespect a person or someone's family but hitting someone, that's not. Okay, whatever. It's as much the kid's fault as it is Mary's," he said.

"Mary knows to walk away from taunting. She could have ended it way before it all escalated," Mrs. Congo shook her head.

"When someone messes with a person's family, one does not just simply walk away. I'm not saying my niece should have knocked the kid out but her father and I teach her and her brother how important family is. The matter is, the kid should not have been making those remarks and had it coming to him."

Mr. Rodgers removed his glasses as he stepped in. "Maybe we should continue this meeting with Mary's father," he remarked at Dean's way of thinking.

"And why is that? I am just as much her legal guardian as my brother is," Dean questioned the man, calmly.

"Mister Winchester, it sounds to me you are condoning your niece's actions."

Dean shook his head. "No, I am not. All I'm saying is that Mary just walked up to the kid, intending on being nice to him and he just started talking crap to her for no reason. No, my niece should not have thrown the first punch but that kid kept taunting her, talking about people she loved and when my niece's temper boils, there's no stopping it. Derrick should be held accountable for his own actions just as Mary is being accountable for hers."

"I wasn't in earshot to hear the words, anyway so…" Mrs. Congo started to explain but Dean interrupted her.

"Who went and told you Mary punched Derrick?" he asked.

"Derrick did himself," she replied.

Dean shrugged, "So you didn't see the fight either."

"No, but I saw the bloody nose and Derrick crying."

Mary perked up when she heard her teacher say Derrick had been crying. No one at school had ever seen Derrick cry. He was usually the one who made the other kids cry. She was pretty proud and sad, all at once. Proud she had taken down the class bully and sad she had made another kid cry even if it was Derrick. She stayed quiet and buried her face in her uncle's grey T-shirt.

"The point is, just because you didn't hear him say those things, how can you let him just get off, scott-free?" Dean continued to argue.

"Hitting hurts, Mister Winchester. Words will only hurt if you let them," she told him.

Dean finally just looked away, laughing a little. "Whatever."

"Anyway, because of Mary's behavior today, she is suspended for two days, not counting today," Mr. Rodgers changed the subject. "She can return to school on Thursday. You're free to go, Mister Winchester as soon as you sign the incident report."

Dean stood up as he mumbled, "With pleasure."

They left the office after Dean signed where he was told to. Mary grabbed her backpack from the secretary who kept it when another student had brought it up for her. Dean didn't even bother shaking anyone's hands, he just wanted out of there. From now on, Sam was in charge of any kind of school meeting, not him. No way was he stepping back into that school unless it was a school play or reward assembly.

Mary followed her uncle out. She had to run to keep up with him and grabbed a hold of his hand with they reached the parking lot, to walk across it. Dean unlocked her door first and opened it for Mary so she could climb in. Once she was inside, he closed it and slid into the driver's seat, starting the engine. Mary fastened her seatbelt before her uncle backed up, out of the parking space and got out of that parking lot as soon as he could.

After a few minutes, Mary got up the courage to ask, "Am I in trouble?"

Dean glanced up into his rear-view mirror before returning his attention to the road ahead, shifting in his seat. "No, Tiger, not this time," he said, quietly. "Though I'm not too excited to hear you threw the first punch, you weren't the one who had started it in the first place. The real deal is, this whole thing could have been avoided if your dad hadn't told you to go talk to that kid. That's the real reason you're not in trouble." Dean shook his head. "Listen, Tiger. You always wait and let the bully come to you and if he, or she, starts something, then you put them in their place. But," he raised one finger, "you only throw a punch if they get violent first. If Derrick starts talking crap about Todd, or any of us, you simply tell him off, that's it," Dean sliced the air with the same hand. "Don't talk about his family, or anyone else. Just tell him to leave your friends and family alone, and raise your voice if you have to. Got it?"

Mary nodded, "Yes, Uncle Dean."

"I can't believe your dad told you to try and be friends with the kid. When does that, seriously ever work? Maybe in movies or on TV, but in real life, uh huh," he shook his head. His cellphone rang at that point. Dean whipped it out, hoping it was his brother. Sure enough, it was. "We seriously need to talk tonight when you get home."

"Why, what happened?" Sam asked, now worried. He couldn't answer his phone when the principal called him since Sam was in the middle of a court hearing and on the verge of his client going to jail for twelve years.

Dean told his brother what had happened between Mary and Derrick, and what went on in the middle. "Oh, by the way, you're handling that stuff from now on," he quickly added. "Since I don't do well with authority."

"I'm sorry, Dean," Sam apologized to his brother. "I was in the middle of a trial and couldn't answer my phone. If I'd known it was the school, I would have asked for a recess."

"Well, don't worry about it, this time, I took care of it. The school probably hates me now, but I let them know I meant business," Dean grinned.

Dean knew Sam was rolling his eyes at him. "So what should we do? Add another week to her grounding?" Sam asked, changing the subject.

"No," he shook his head. "Mary can be in trouble with the school for all I care, but at home, since this could have been avoided, she is only grounded for last Friday's episode. She will not be grounded longer, nor would she be spanked. All I gave her was a lecture on how to really deal with a bully, not the movies' way of doing it."

He heard Sam let out an annoyed breath of air, "What did you tell her?"

Dean raised his eyebrows, "To not try and make friends with the bully, for one. Seriously, what the hell?"

"Why not, Dean?"

"Sam, when has that ever worked before? You go up to a bully, chances are, that bully's gonna do what they do best, cause trouble. I mean, geez, Sam, if you want to put the poor kid in the hospital, why don't you just push her out in front of a car?" Dean told his brother, sarcastically. "Mary couldn't even get one word out, without the kid shooting his mouth off."

"Whatever, Dean. We'll talk about this, tonight, the three of us. I have to go, the judge only gave us a half an hour recess and most of that was spent, talking to my client. I'll talk to you then, okay?" Sam told him, not wanting to argue with his brother while he was inside a court building.

"Yeah, good luck with your trial, Sammy. Talk to you later." Dean and Sam hung up and Dean put his phone away, running his left hand through his short, blond hair, a few times as his same elbow rested on the door. "We'll go home and have lunch. Then I have to go back the garage. Bill's short staffed today and needs me, but you can work on your homework in the break room. Okay?" he told his niece, up at the rear-view mirror.

Mary nodded again. "Is Daddy mad?" she asked.

"No, he's not mad. We never can be mad at you kids." Dean shrugged, "Maybe disappointed in your behavior or decisions you make, but never mad."

"So, he's disappointed?"

"Just for the fact there was a fight but not at you. He just doesn't want you fighting, okay?" he told her.

She nodded a third time and stared out her window for the rest of the car ride home.


	8. Chapter 8

**Living the Dream**

Chapter 8

Dean stopped home first for lunch and to let the dog out. While Ammy was outside, Mary got her lunchbox out of her backpack and took everything out, on the kitchen table, sitting on her legs while Dean looked through the fridge and pantry for something to eat. She opened her sandwich first and took a bit of it. As she chewed, the bread was smashed to the roof of her mouth which she tried to scrape off with her finger.

"Uncle Dean, how come sandwiches get stuck to the top of your mouth?" she asked of her uncle, looking back over her left shoulder.

Dean looked through the fridge one last time and had decided on leftover pizza from Friday night, grabbing the freezer bag. "I have no idea, Tiger," he answered as he shut the fridge and moved over to grab a plate from the upper cupboard. "I guess because it's soft."

Mary continued eating, satisfied with her uncle's guess. "Did you know peanut butter makes an animal look like it's talking," she asked when Dean was waiting for the microwave to beep.

"Really? I didn't know that," he smiled at his niece. "Where'd ya learn that?"

"Mr. Rodney, our music teacher, had an uncle who worked on this really old show about a talking horse, named Mr. Ed and he said that they put peanut butter on the top of the horse's mouth to make the horse lick it and it made it look like the horse was talking," she explained.

The microwave beeped. "Wow, that's interesting, Mary," Dean told her, opening it and took his plate out. He carried it over to set it on the table and sat down at his usual spot on the end. "So what did your dad pack for you today?" Dean smiled, picking up one of the slices and took a bite.

"Ham and cheese sandwich, grapes again, Go-gurt, and a Capri Sun," she listed everything in front of her.

"Sounds delicious."

"How come you don't pack our lunch, sometimes?" Mary asked, continuing to eat her sandwich.

Dean shrugged. "I'm usually still getting ready for work when you guys leave. I can though. Should I pack your lunch when you go back to school on Thursday?"

Mary lit up at that, "Yeah, can you?"

He snickered at his niece's response. "You bet, Tiger," he smiled at her.

Mary then held out her Ziploc bag of grapes to her uncle, "Want some?" she asked.

"Sure." Dean reached into the bag and picked out a grape before popping it into his mouth. After ten minutes of sharing them, he nodded at his niece, "how much do you think you can fit in your mouth?"

"Mm," Mary thought on that. "Ten."

"Ten, huh? I bet I can fit more than that," he teased her.

"Nah uh," she argued.

"Let's see then." Since Mary's grapes were pretty much gone, Dean stood up and grabbed the rest of the grapes from the fridge and brought them back to the table, setting them between the two of them. "Ready. Set. Go!"

Both Dean and Mary raced against each other, pulling each grape off the stem and placed them in their mouths, as much as they could. Mary was the first to stop, which Dean did not long afterwards. Mary spit hers out, into her lunchbox while Dean spit his out on his plate. Both of them counted how many there was.

"Eleven," Mary said, happily.

Dean finished counting his own. "Twenty-nine but eleven is really good though," he said, trying not to hurt his niece's feelings.

"I can't beat you at anything," she pouted, sadly.

He placed his right hand on the back of her collarbone, "Don't say that. You always beat me at Pokémon, on the Wii and with your cards." Dean rose from his seat and held his hands towards Mary, "and you always pin me down when we wrestle, right?"

Mary screamed, excitedly and quickly jumped off her chair to run away from her uncle. He ended up catching her and pinned her down, onto the hardwood floor to tickle her, making Mary squeal. She managed to roll away and get up, onto her hands and knees, looking like a tiger cub ready to pounce. Mary then lunged forward and knocked her uncle onto his back and there started another one of their uncle and niece wrestling matches.

Both Dean and Mary laughed as they tried to pin each other down to try and tickle the other. Mary was the one wining most of the time but Dean usually let her pin him down.

"Got you again, Uncle Dean," she smiled at him as she sat on top of him for the fifth time.

"Is that right?" Dean suddenly pulled Mary to his chest and flipped over to pin her down and started tickling her again. This time, he made it impossible for his niece to get away.

"Uncle Dean, stop! That tickles!" she laughed out loud, trying to use her hands to protect herself. She grabbed onto his arms and tried to push them away to roll away from her uncle. However, she didn't need to since Dean finally stopped and sat back, resting his left arm on his up-turned knee.

He smirked at her, "Had enough?"

Mary sat up, catching her breath. She them smiled up at him, flashing her father's same, dimpled smile and wrapped her arms around his torso. "I love you, Uncle Dean."

Dean smiled down at the little girl and wrapped his own arms around her, rubbing her back, up and down. "I love you too, Tiger," he replied, softly and reached his head down to kiss the top of hers.

Making sure Ammy was inside again, Dean and Mary prepared to leave. Mary grabbed her backpack, also bringing a book, along with a coloring book and her crayons before following her uncle out to his car. Dean opened her car door for her to climb in and shut it when she was inside. On the way to the garage, the two of them sang along to Dean's music. Beside her favorite singer, Mary liked some of Dean's music too, besides her brother and liked to sing along with him.

After a short, twenty-five minute drive, Dean pulled into the lot of Bill's Car Repair and parked over on the side. He let Mary out once he had gotten out and the two of them walked up to the garage where Bill, the owner was working on a two-door, old pick-up truck.

The old man looked up when he saw the man and kid walking towards him and wiped the sweat and oil from his forehead. "Hey, Dean-o," he greeted him. "Get everything sorted out at the school?"

"Yeah, unfortunately, they suspended Mary here, from school," Dean told him.

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that," Bill nodded at Dean. "I have Jake and Colin working tomorrow if you want to take the day off."

"Sounds good. Are you sure though? I can call their babysitter to watch Mary, tomorrow and Wednesday," Dean shrugged.

"I'm sure. And besides, you haven't taken a day off since you started working here, you deserve the time off. I'd need ya, this afternoon though. No one can come in and I have two more cars after I get done with this truck here," Bill gestured over at the truck he was working on.

"No problem. Just let me get my niece settled in the break room and I'll get started on the next car." Dean then led his niece to the back of the garage where the break room was and had her sit at the table that was in there.

Mary pulled out her homework folder and took out the week's homework packet. Dean quickly read through the _Note to Parents_ which was the first page, explaining what the students were learning that week and flipped to the next page and read Mary the directions, trying his best to work her through the first problem since math was definitely not one of his strong suits. Luckily, Mary already knew what to do for the most part and Dean told her, her father could check it later to make sure.

Grabbing a beer from the break room's fridge for himself, Dean also grabbed a soda for his niece, opening it for her and gave her a peck on the head as he headed back out to the garage to start working again.

Mary worked on the first two pages of her homework packet, taking only thirty minutes for both before she decided to color in her dinosaurs coloring book, making sure to color inside the lines.

While she colored a page of a brontosaurus eating the leaves off the top of a tall tree, another worker walked in, grabbing a beer from the fridge.

He looked over at Mary, who was focused on her coloring more than she was him. "Hey there," he told her with a smile. "What's your name?"

Mary looked up from her coloring, at him. "Mary," she replied and returned to her coloring.

"Mary, huh?" he said. "Such a pretty name for a pretty, little girl."

"My daddy named me after my grandma," she explained to him.

"He did, huh?" Mary hadn't noticed the man walk closer to her until she saw his shadow hover over her coloring book, blocking part of the ceiling lights above. "Has your daddy ever told you how beautiful you are?" He reached out and tried to caress her left cheek.

Mary felt uncomfortable and flinched away from his touch.

"Don't be scared, I won't hurt you, beautiful," he assured her but it didn't make Mary feel better as he tried to reach out for her again. Mary asked for him to stop but he wouldn't listen to her. The man next tried to run his fingers through her hair which she smacked his hand away. That didn't sit well with him and the man grabbed ahold of her wrist, forcefully. "There was no reason for that," he told her.

Mary leaped from her seat and tried to pry away from the man's strong grip. "Let me go," she told him.

The man took a drink of his beer before setting it on the table and grabbed ahold of Mary's other wrist, squeezing them both a little too tight. Mary continued to pull away from the man as she pleaded for him to let go but her cries fell on deaf ears.

He moved his face closer to hers as he grinned at her, a hint of lust in his eyes. "You know what, you're the most prettiest girl I've ever laid eyes on," the man told her. When Mary tried to scream out for her uncle, he quickly covered her mouth with his hand. "Now, don't want to do that, now do we?"

But Mary was still saved when the door opened and Bill stood in the doorway, holding the doorknob in his right hand, which the man quickly let her go, stepping back like nothing had happened.

"Jake, what are you waiting for? That jeep isn't gonna fix itself," Bill told the man. Mary had backed up against the wall, staring at the man, Jake like she was terrified of him. Tears were flooding her eyes as her chest moved rapidly, hugging the wall. "What's going on in here?" He asked, turning back to Jake.

Jake shrugged, "I don't know. I tried to say hello and she bolted to the wall."

Bill looked over at the little girl again. "What's wrong, sweetheart?" he asked, sincerely.

Mary wouldn't answer the old man so Bill had to call for Dean who came right away.

Dean asked, "What's up?" when he walked over to them and Bill nodded over at Mary. When Dean saw how terrified she looked, he immediately hurried over to her, kneeling down to Mary's level. The other two men left them alone. Mary latched onto Dean's neck, crying into his shoulder. "Tiger, what's wrong?"

Mary sniffed and tried to answer but her words were muffled by her uncle's shoulder.

He lifted her off his shoulder for Mary to look at him. "I can't understand what you're saying." Dean pushed some of her hair behind her right ear and wiped away a tear with his left thumb. "Tell me again what's wrong," he told her, gently.

"He…." Mary had to take several breaths in between words. "tried….t-to….touch….m-me….and he….h-hurt…me too…"

"Who did?" Dean looked alarmed to hear that from his niece. "Touch you how?"

Mary sniffed again as she continued to cry. Dean tried to help her calm her emotions so she could speak without hyperventilating and finally, between sniffles, Mary was able to tell him what happened.

Dean was even more pissed off, now. Since there was one other guy working that day, he knew exactly who it was and stood up to storm out of the break room where Jake was working under the hood of a black Nissan.

Dean grabbed ahold of the man by the back of his neck and slugged him in his face. "You sick bastard!" he shot at Jake and slugged him again. "So you like little kids, huh? Well, how about I break your fucking nose."

Bill had to rush over and hold Dean back before he murdered Jake, right then and there. Dean struggled against him, who was quite strong for an old man actually. "Dean, stop!" Bill told him, holding him around the neck from behind. "Think of your niece. He's not worth going to jail over."

"You don't know what he tried to do to her, Bill!" Dean shot back at his boss as anger boiled up, inside of him, to record height. "I want to rip his fuckin' heart out!"

Jake was hunched over, holding his hand under his nose as blood dripped into it. "I didn't touch her," he lied through his teeth.

"Bull shit, you didn't," Dean exclaimed. "My niece is in there, scared to death. She wouldn't lie about something like that!"

"Dean, that's enough!" Bill ordered him and turned to Jake, "and you, get out of here before I call the cops. I don't want to see you around here, again."

Jake straightened up. "Fine but I'm suing this garage and that guy for assault charges," he pointed over at Bill, then Dean when he threatened them.

Dean glared at the man, with bloodlust and vengeance in his eyes. "Yeah, good luck with that. Let's see how far you get once they find out what you done."

With that, Jake gave a glare at Dean as well and left the garage, heading over to his black, four-door truck. When he was finally gone, Bill released Dean.

"I'm so sorry, Dean," he told him. "I didn't know."

Dean was wiping his hands over his face, "It's not your fault, Bill. Excuse me." He then headed back to the break room to check on his niece who was still standing in the same, exact place Dean had left her. He kneeled back down to her level and pulled her into his arms. Mary latched onto her uncle again, crying into his shoulder, some more. "Shh, shh," he assured her. "It's okay, Tiger. The bastard's gone now, he's not gonna come within a foot of you, I swear."

For the rest of the afternoon, until closing time, Mary stayed glued to Dean's side, afraid to be out of his sight. Dean showed her a thing or two like he did with Jonathan, about cars and taught her how to fix them, letting Mary stand on an upside-down milk crate.

When the two of them headed over to the Impala, Mary wanted to sit up front with Dean. Technically, since the Impala didn't have airbags, there was no reason she couldn't so Dean reached back over the seat and grabbed her booster seat, placing it on the other side of the front seat, moving so Mary could climb in before sliding in, under the wheel. Once Mary had her seatbelt on, tossing her backpack onto the floor, Dean started the engine and drove from the garage, waving at Bill who was packing up his truck.

As he drove, Dean couldn't help watch his niece out of the corner of his eye and saw how terrified she looked. Mary didn't say a word the whole way to the school. He tried to get her to talk while they waited for Jonathan but she wouldn't. Dean removed her seatbelt and moved Mary to the middle of the seat so she could lean against him.

Eventually, the passenger door opened and Jonathan slid inside, taking Mary's seat. "Is Mary in trouble from this morning?" he asked, seeing the look in his sister's eye as he put his seatbelt on.

Dean shifted the Impala back into gear but had to wait for the other cars to move…again. "No, Mary's not in trouble," he assured his nephew.

"Then why is she crying?"

"Something happened, this afternoon at the garage between her and one of the guys," Dean explained, watching and waiting for the traffic to move, his right arm around his niece while his left hand controlled the steering wheel. He really did hate the school zone traffic.

"What happened?" Jonathan continued to ask, worried about his sister.

"Someone tried to hurt her, let's leave it at that."

Jonathan's own anger was starting to rise just like his uncle's had done. "Who? Did you get him?"

"No, but Bill had him leave and called the police to file a charge against him," he told him. "I did manage to break his nose, though."

"Good," Jonathan said, glad some justice was served. No one messes with Jonathan Winchester's little sister, not if Jonathan could help it.


	9. Chapter 9

**If there is anything that you would like to see between Sam and his kids, or between Dean and the kids, let me know. Anything at all, activities or special occasions, etc. It's not a contest either, if more than one makes a suggestion I would write both. Thanks for reading! **

Living the Dream

Chapter 9

As soon as they got home, Dean took his niece and nephew into the backyard and taught them how to really fight, including how to use their size to their advantage. Once he showed them, Dean had Jonathan and Mary spar with him to show him what they had learned and understood, giving pointers alone the way.

Sam pulled into the driveway around four-thirty and went inside the house, calling out for his family. When there was no answer, he went right through the house and out the side door, finding his brother and kids still outside, sparring.

"What's going on?" he asked them. When Mary saw her father, she bolted to him and squeezed his legs to her. Sam lifted her up into his arms which she latched onto his neck. "Mary, what's wrong?" he asked her when Sam heard her start crying again.

Mary didn't respond, she just tightened her grip and hid her face into the crook of her father's neck.

Sam looked over at his brother. "Why is Mary crying?"

Dean rubbed the back of his head, staring at the ground. Finally, he asked Jonathan, "Do you have any homework?"

He replied, "Yeah."

"Go do it," Dean told him.

Jonathan nodded and headed inside and up to his bedroom. The brothers also headed inside the house where Sam sat his daughter down on the couch and followed Dean into the living room. Dean then explained what happened at the garage. When Sam heard what had happened, he was furious, possibly more than Dean was.

"Why couldn't you have just taken the rest of the day off or called Tiffany or Cas?" he demanded of his brother.

"Bill needed help and it was just for a few hours. I didn't think something like this would happen, Sammy. I'm sorry, I really am. Trust me when I say I'm just as pissed off as you are." Both of the brothers kept their voices down so none of the kids would hear them. "I wanted to literally kill the son of a bitch but Bill kept me from doing it for Mary's sake."

Sam was now running his hands along his face several times as he was walking around the living room before running them through his hair.

"I am so sorry, Sammy, I swear," Dean told him. "Bill caught the guy before anything really happened, it seems but Mary's still terrified." He watched his younger brother pace around before Sam headed back into the family room and went to lift his daughter back into his arms and sat down on the edge of the couch where she had been sitting. Sam didn't even care that she had been sucking her thumb.

Mary latched onto her father's neck once more. "I want Snivy," she cried, softly as her uncle walked into the room. He must have heard because Dean turned and headed up the stairs.

"Dean, tell Jon to come down here for a second," Sam called after him.

From the stairs, Dean headed for his nephew's bedroom first, sticking his head inside. "That doesn't look like homework," he told Jonathan who was sitting at his computer watching a vlog on YouTube.

Jonathan jumped at his uncle's voice. "But I had to see if Stephen posted a video today," he told his uncle.

Dean rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Your dad wants you downstairs for a second."

"For what?" he asked.

"I don't know but get your ass down there, anyway," Dean ordered the boy before leaving the doorway and headed for his niece's bedroom, grabbing the stuffed Pokémon off her bed and headed back downstairs, letting his nephew go first.

Back downstairs, Dean walked into the family room again and passed Mary her stuffed Pokémon who was sitting sideways on Sam's lap now. Mary took the toy and hugged it to her, leaning against her father who had patted the couch next to him for Jonathan to sit down.

Jonathan sidestepped between his father and the coffee table and sat down next to him. "What's going on, Dad?" he asked.

Sam wrapped his left arm around his son's shoulder, holding his other one around his daughter. "I just heard what happened this afternoon with your sister, Jon and I wanted to sit you both down and have a talk about this," Sam began.

"Uncle Dean taught us how to protect ourselves if it ever happened again," Jonathan said.

"And that's great, I'm glad he did but I still want to talk with you and answer any questions either of you have," he replied.

"Can I ask exactly what happened to my sister?" Jonathan asked his father.

Sam looked down at the floor and sighed. "What I want you both to know, is that there are adults out there, usually men who are sick in the head and will hurt children like you," he explained, trying to keep it vague since Mary was too young to really know what the guy was after. "I want you both to remember that no one has the right to touch you in an inappropriate way that makes you feel uncomfortable, and if someone ever does, come tell me or your uncle right away. Understand?"

Jonathan nodded, "I will, Dad."

Sam turned to his daughter, rubbing her upper, right arm up and down. "Do you understand, Mary?"

She nodded against her father's chest before hiding her face into it. Sam continued talking about stranger danger to his kids for another half an hour before he let his son go start on his homework.

Dean was looking through the fridge for the meat he moved from the freezer when he came home for lunch. "Want to help me make dinner, Tiger?" he called over to his niece, trying to help her feel better.

Sam looked down at Mary who shook her head against his chest. It broke his heart to see his daughter this much upset. He wanted to forget about Mary being grounded and let her watch cartoons to cheer up her too. Sam was torn on what to do.

Dean had set the hamburger meat on the counter and grabbed a pan from one of the lower cabinets, turning on the front, left burner. Tearing off the clear plastic, Dean dumped the meat into the pan and walked over to where his brother was holding his niece, taking her from Sam.

"Hey, Tiger," he told her, "I could really use a helper with dinner. Please?"

Mary rubbed at her eyes with the back of her left hand, holding Snivy in her right arm before she finally gave in and nodded.

"All right," Dean said, excited and carried her over to the kitchen sink to wash their hands. He set her down and told Mary to grab a chair to stand on while he got a pot from the same cabinet he got the pan from and set it on the other front burner after filling it with water.

Sam was still sitting on the edge of the couch, leaning against his hands. He couldn't help think about one of his kids almost, possibly raped and wonder what could have happened to his daughter if Dean's boss hasn't gotten there in time… No, Sam couldn't think about that. But the possibility wouldn't escape his mind and could not stop a tear or two from falling down his cheeks.

Sam always tried to be a protective father to both of his kids but as they grew older, he found it hard to do so. Jonathan had his sports and friends now and Mary was already starting to make friends and soon will be playing a sport too. Lucky for Sam, Dean would probably take her to practices and the whole family would be at the games but he knew the day would come when Mary would want to go to a friend's house and Sam would have to fight the urge to stay there with her.

He looked over at his daughter who was breaking dry spaghetti noodles in half to toss in the pot of water, his heart yearning for her to stay little forever. Sam wanted both Jonathan and Mary to still be little but they were growing up so fast, a little too fast.

Ammy had wandered around the couch and curiously jumped up, beside Sam and laid her head on his left leg, staring up at him. Sam couldn't help smile at the dog and moved his arms so he could rub her head.

After dinner, the kids got ready for bed and Sam curled up on his daughter's bed to read her a story. Mary tried to fight falling asleep but couldn't help feel tired and was out by the time her father finished reading.

Sam very carefully slid to the edge of the bed without waking Mary and covered her up with her comforter, kissing her on the forehead before leaving the room. But not before watching her sleep, as he stood in the doorway with his right hand on the light switch.

Once Mary was taken care of, Sam headed for his son's room, wandering in as he knocked. "Hey, going to bed soon?"

"My bedtime's at nine, remember, Dad?" Jonathan reminded his father.

Sam couldn't help snicker at that. "What ya watching?" he asked, curious.

Jonathan was sitting at his computer again. "Stephen playing another video game," he explained.

Sam leaned on the back of his son's chair, watching the YouTube video with him. After a few minutes, he asked, "Did you finish your homework?"

Jonathan nodded while still watching the video.

"Can I see it?"

He pointed over at his bed where his backpack was. Sam walked over and went inside it, pulling out one of Jonathan's three-ring binders and looked in the front pocket where he normally kept all of his homework. Sam sat down on the edge of his son's bed and looked over the math problems. Coming across one that didn't seem right to him, Sam took out Jonathan's math book and turned to the page Jonathan had written down and checked it.

"Come here, Jon," he told his son.

Jonathan moaned and paused his video before moving over to sit next to his father. Sam pointed out a mistake he made and helped Jonathan fix it before continuing to check over the rest of the math problems, stopping at a couple more.

"Dad," Jonathan said as Sam finished checking over the last couple of problems.

Sam looked up, acknowledging his son.

"Am I still able to go with Uncle Dean to the garage?" he asked.

Sam looked down with just his eyes before staring at the homework assignment.

"I like going with Uncle Dean to fix cars."

He sighed, "I know you do, Jon. Your uncle says Bill fired the guy so, yes, you can still go to the garage with him. But please, be careful and stay in your uncle's sight."

"Dad, I'm eleven now, I'll be fine," Jonathan told his father.

"You're still a kid, Jon and still able for an adult to take advantage of you. Just humor me, okay?"

Jonathan stared up at his father and recognized the usual worried eyes Sam had for him and his sister and agreed. "I'll be careful, Dad and I will stay near Uncle Dean, I promise."

Sam tried to force a smile for his son and wrapped his left arm around his shoulders, kissing the top of Jonathan's head.

Jonathan tried to push away from his father, "Dad, I'm too old for that."

"Really? I thought you were still my little boy," Sam couldn't help smile.

"No, I'm practically a teenager now," he told him.

"Oh, you are, huh?"

"Yeah," Jonathan said. "In two years, I'm gonna be in middle school, being kissed by girls not my dad."

Sam shrugged, "Well, what about hugs? Your uncle and I still hug each other. There's nothing wrong with that, right?"

"My friends say boys don't hug each other unless they're gay," he explained.

Sam placed his son's binder on the bed next to him and put his arm around him. "Listen, Jon, you have to stop listening to Jeff and I know that's who told you that. You know your uncle and you know me and we're not gay. There is nothing wrong with guys hugging each other. It actually shows you're a real man, showing you care about another person."

"But…"

He stopped his son. "No buts, Jon. I won't kiss you anymore but I like when I can hug you, especially after I haven't seen you in a while like when you go to a friend's house for a few days on your school breaks."

"Well, can you not do it at school, at least?" Jonathan asked.

"Sure," Sam shrugged, "but you can't let someone's opinion control you like that. Do what you feel you should do."

"I feel that I don't want to be hugged by my dad," he shrugged back. "It's too awkward."

"What about your hair?" Sam and Jonathan turned to see Dean leaning in the doorway, his hands halfway in his jeans pockets. "Normally girls keep their hair long, am I right?"

"Yeah, but hair's different."

Dean shrugged, "How is that different?"

"I'm not growing my hair to my shoulders and lots of cools dudes have long hair," Jonathan said.

"Lots of straight guys hug too," Dean pointed out.

"Jonathan, you can feel however you want to feel," Sam told his son. "But the point is, anyone can hug someone without being gay. It's natural, okay?"

Jonathan nodded, looking down at the floor.

Sam stood up, touching the side of his son's head. When he headed for the door, Jonathan told him to wait. Sam turned back around, halfway. Jonathan stood up and went over to wrap his arms around his father's waist which surprised Sam.

"What made you change your mind?" Sam asked him.

Jonathan looked up at his father and shrugged, "I don't know, I just felt like it. Jeff tells us not to do a lot of things but you're right. I shouldn't feel awkward when I want to hug my dad."

Sam smiled, holding his arms around his son. His son truly was growing up on him and becoming a mature, young man. Jonathan let go and moved over to hug his uncle next who had to throw in, teasingly, "So, now all we have to do is convince you to cut your hair."

Sam rolled his eyes at his older brother and reached over to smack him upside the head.

"Ow, what was that for?" he asked of Sam, rubbing the back of his head.

Sam glared at Dean like he should know why he had smacked him. Jonathan just stood there, snickering at his father and uncle, listening. Exchanging good-nights, the brothers left the room, leaving the boy to his own who went over to feed his gecko its crickets.

Later that night when everyone was fast asleep, Mary was awakened from a sound sleep. She sat up in bed, panting hard from the nightmare she just experienced and jumped out of bed to her uncle's bedroom. Climbing onto it, Mary crawled over to lay beside Dean and snuggled against him, clutching Snivy to her as well.

Dean woke up when he felt the extra weight on his bed and opened his eyes when she was lying next to him. "You had a bad dream, Tiger?" he asked her, groggily.

"Yeah," she whimpered, softly. "Is it okay if I sleep with you, Uncle Dean? I'm scared."

"Sure you can," he replied. Dean pulled part of his comforter out from under her so he could cover her up with it and wrapped his left arm around her when she lied back down.


	10. Chapter 10

Living the Dream

Chapter 10

The next morning after Sam and Jonathan left for school and work, Bill called Dean about being short-staffed since he had fired Jake. Dean told him he would call him back after he made a few phone calls to see if he could get anyone to watch Mary for the day. Tiffany, the kids' babysitter Sam had hired while Dean was still hunting was working that day so she couldn't come watch Mary even though she would love to. He tried calling Castiel who had finally gotten the hang of cellphones but he had something to do as well and couldn't.

Dean was about to call Bill back to tell him he couldn't come into work when none other than Gabriel popped in.

"Seriously, what is up with the organic stuff?" he asked, looking through the fridge.

Dean was sitting on the stool closest to the kitchen table, leaning on his arms. "Ask Sam," he said. "Hey, you got any plans today?"

Gabriel grabbed a beer and closed the fridge door. "Nope. Why, what's up?" the archangel asked.

He let out a breath of air. Dean couldn't believe he was going to ask a favor of the guy but he didn't really have a choice at the moment. "Mary's home from school for the next couple of days and my boss is short on guys since he had to fire one. Do you think you could watch her until I get home, this afternoon?"

A grin appeared on the archangel's face. "Wait, you're asking me…? You want me to watch the kid?"

Dean rolled his eyes. "Look, her babysitter is working today and Cas is off doing who knows what, otherwise, I'd be asking them, okay? So can you do it or not?"

"You bet I can," he agreed, happily.

"I'm warning you, though. Mary is still grounded, so there's no TV or video games, and please don't fill her up on candy. Sam said she had two cavities on her last dentist visit since you started hanging around here," Dean warned him.

"Come on, the kid's gonna lose those teeth eventually. What's the big deal?"

"Just watch the candy intake, okay?" Dean said. "Two is the limit, that's it and I'm gonna ask Mary when I come home, and she knows not to lie."

"Fine, party pooper," Gabriel gave in.

Mary came downstairs at that point and went into the family room. Dean noticed and stood up off the stool, kneeling to her level.

"Mary, Bill needs me to work today, after all. Gabriel's gonna stay with you until I get home from work, okay?"

Mary shook her head, "No, Uncle Dean. I want you to stay home with me."

"I can't, I'm needed at the garage," he told her.

"Then I want to go with you and help you fix the cars," she said, close to tears now.

Dean watched his niece, heartbroken. "It'll get boring for you, fixing cars for six hours. Just stay here with Gabriel. I promise everything will be fine, I promise."

Mary grabbed onto his neck, squeezing it in her arms as she cried into his shoulder. Dean closed his eyes as he held his own arms around her.

"It's okay, Tiger. I know yesterday was scary for you and I wish I could take it all away but I still have to work so I can help pay the bills. I would stay home with you if I could though," he tried to assure his niece.

Mary sniffed, "I don't care if it's boring I want to be with you. What if he knows where we live and he comes to get me?"

Dean gently grabbed his niece's shoulders and pulled her back to look her in the eye. "Look at me, Mary," he said and shook his head, "he does not know where we live, I promise. You know Gabriel's an angel just like Uncle Cas is. You will be protected and if you still get scared, pray to Uncle Cas and he will come check up on you. And you have your dog too."

"You're coming home for lunch, right?" she asked.

He shook his head again. "I come home for lunch to let your dog out. Since you're gonna be home, you can let her out. She's your responsibility, remember? I just do it while you're in school. But I will call throughout the day to check on you and I'm sure your dad will too."

"We'll have a great time, kiddo," Gabriel spoke up with a smile.

Mary looked over at the archangel.

"Besides, you like Gabriel anyway, you're always trying to get me and your dad to let him watch you," Dean smirked.

"I do like Gabriel, Uncle Dean but I'm scared and want to be with you," she replied.

"I know you do, Tiger." Dean pulled his niece into another embrace. "But I promise everything will be all right."

Mary hugged his neck, not wanting to let go. Dean had to so he could finish getting ready for work. She wanted to pack her uncle a lunch for him so while Dean was up in his bathroom, brushing his teeth and washing his face, Mary got to work on making him a lunch for later. She made him a peanut butter and strawberry jelly sandwich doing what she seen her father makes for hers and her brother's lunch.

Since Dean didn't have his own lunchbox, Mary packed everything into hers, including an apple, a small bag of chips, and a container of pudding for dessert, making sure to pack a spoon for it. She also packed a can of Coke for a drink. Pulling the chair she was standing on over to the fridge, Mary stood on it and grabbed an ice pack from the top shelf of the freezer door.

Gabriel walked over and looked inside the lunchbox as Mary climbed down from the chair and pushed it back to the counter she was working at. "That's Uncle Dean's lunch," she explained to him.

"Oh, I don't get a lunch?" he teased the little girl.

"No, because you're not going to work, Uncle Dean is."

"Oh, so are you making lunch then, later?" Gabriel asked, teasing her some more.

"I'm not allowed to use the stove or microwave without Daddy or Uncle Dean." Mary climbed back onto the chair and placed the ice pack into a corner of the lunchbox before zipping it closed.

Dean walked down the stairs and into the family room as he was throwing on his jacket. "Okay, I'm leaving. I get off at two-thirty and usually home around three-thirty depending on traffic at the school," he told Gabriel. "I'll call a couple times to check in and Sam will probably call a dozen times throughout the day to check on how Mary's doing."

Gabriel looked over at the man, "Seriously?"

"Sam's the biggest, overly protective parent you will ever meet, I'll tell ya," Dean shrugged.

"Wait, Uncle Dean." Mary sat down and slid off the chair while holding the lunchbox. She hurried over to her uncle to hold it up to him. "I packed you a lunch for later."

Dean smiled down at his niece. "You did, huh?" he said, taking it from her. "Thanks, Tiger."

The little girl smiled, "You're welcome, Uncle Dean."

"So what's on the menu for lunch?"

"It's a surprise, you can't look in there until you take your lunch break," she told him.

"Oh all right," he said, pretending to be disappointed. "I guess I can wait."

"Don't open it before then. Promise?"

Dean held up his right hand, "I promise." He kneeled to her level and gave Mary a goodbye hug and kiss. "Have a good day, Tiger. Be good for Gabriel, and make sure to keep him out of trouble."

"I will, Uncle Dean," she told him, hugging his neck, not wanting to let go.

Dean ended the hug though to look at her. "But remember, you are still grounded. Gabriel knows you can't watch TV or play video games. If I hear you did or if you give Gabriel a hard time, you and I will be having a chat when I get home. Do you understand me?"

Mary nodded, "Yes, Uncle Dean."

He gave her another hug and kiss.

"Are you sure you have to go?" she asked him.

"I'm sure, Tiger," he replied, rubbing her back up and down. "Everything will be all right, I promise." Dean kissed his niece one last time before he stood up to head towards the front door.

At that moment, Sam walked in the door, surprising his brother.

"What the hell are you doing home?" Dean asked of him.

"You owe a dollar to the curse jar," Mary pointed out to her uncle, smiling.

Sam lifted his suitcase off his right shoulder and set it on the couch in the living room as he walked over to Dean. "I decided to use a couple sick days to stay home with Mary while she's suspended from school," he explained.

Mary grew excited when she heard her father was staying home with her and ran over to him which Sam lifted her up onto his side.

"Sam, I had just got Mary in agreement to stay with Gabriel," Dean told his brother, frustrated.

"I'm sorry, Dean. I couldn't stop thinking about yesterday and wanted to be home with Mary. Besides, I haven't taken a day off in a while anyway. Why, were you going into work today?"

"Yeah, Bill's short help today since he had to fire that…" Dean tried his best to sensor himself in front of his niece. "…that jerk. Tiffany had to work today and Cas had stuff to do, I don't know what."

"Well, it won't be necessary because I'll be home," Sam shrugged. Mary was hugging her father's neck, her head on his right shoulder. Sam kissed her right cheek. "Come on, let's go get you dressed for the day," he told her. Sam carried his daughter up the stairs.

Dean sighed as he rubbed his eyes with his right hand. "I swear I'm never gonna get that kid winged off us," he muttered to himself when his brother and niece were out of earshot.

Gabriel walked over to him. "So I take it my services are no longer needed?"

"Nope, guess not. But thanks for being willing to watch Mary," Dean thanked the archangel.

"Don't mention it," he shrugged and without another word, disappeared.

Dean walked over to stand at the foot of the stairs, "Sam, am I still picking Jon up from school?" he called upstairs.

Sam walked out to the wooden railing to look down at his brother. "If you want," he shrugged. "It'll be good for you and Jon since you won't have to pick up Mary too."

"Good how?" Dean asked.

"One on one time," he answered, "between the two of you. I know Jon is always looking for that."

"Got ya," Dean nodded. "Well, I'm off. See ya later, Sam."

"See ya, Dean," Sam replied as Dean headed for the door. He noticed the lunchbox in his hand. "You know, I had left my lunchbox here, this morning. You could use it if you want."

"Mary packed my lunch, this morning," Dean said with his hand on the doorknob.

Sam grinned. "Really?" he asked, surprised.

He nodded.

Mary hurried out of her bedroom to the railing where her father was standing, holding onto the railing, now dressed in jeans and a green T-shirt with the cartoon Hulk on the front. "Uncle Dean, don't peek at your lunch before your lunch break, okay?" she called down to him.

Dean smiled up at his niece, "I promise with my whole heart, Tiger, I won't peek."

"Cross your heart?" Mary asked.

Dean used the hand that was holding the doorknob to draw an imaginary X across his heart, "Cross my heart."

Mary smiled and hurried down the stairs to give her uncle one more hug and kiss.

Dean used the same arm to hold her to him, kissing her cheek. "Be good for your dad," he told her.

Mary replied, "I will."

Dean stood up and finally got out the door, walking out to the Impala as he shut the door behind him. Mary watched from the large living room window by the front door, squishing her nose against the glass until he was gone than ran back upstairs, looking for her father.

Sam was digging out his regular clothes to change into as Mary climbed onto his bed. "Did you eat breakfast, Mare?" he asked his daughter, closing the second from the top drawer of his dresser.

Mary shook her head, "I just licked the peanut butter and jelly off the knife when I was making Uncle Dean's sandwich for lunch. Can I have a bagel?"

"Sure, sweetheart. Just let me change first," Sam said.

"Okay, Daddy."

Sam headed into his bathroom and changed out of his work clothes.

"Daddy, what are we doing today?" Mary called to her father.

"I have to run some errands," he called back.

Mary groaned, "I hate errands."

"You'll survive," he assured his daughter. "Maybe we can do a daddy-daughter date for lunch later. We haven't done that in a while."

Mary was doing crooked somersaults on her father's bed, landing on her back. She brightened up at that, "Can we go to McDonalds?"

"I was thinking about something better than that." Sam eventually came out of the bathroom as he finished buttoning his shirt. "About AJ's? I know you like eating there," he suggested.

"But they don't give out toys with the kid's meal," she pointed out.

"You don't need a new toy, Mare," Sam told her.

"I don't need it but I want one."

Sam couldn't help laugh at his little girl's cuteness. He walked towards her to lean over where Mary had landed on her back again. "You are so adorable," he told her and kissed Mary on the forehead.

Mary held her hands up and touched either side of her father's face. While she was holding them there, Sam snuck in and started tickling her under her arms as Mary giggled, releasing her hands from his face.

"Daddy, stop," she laughed.

But Sam continued, moving up and down her sides. Mary managed to roll away, landing off the bed, on her bare feet. "Okay, go get your shoes on while I go put a bagel in for us," he told her.

"Okay, Daddy." Mary hurried out of the room towards hers.

Sam was glad his daughter was feeling better from yesterday. Dean had told him earlier that morning she had ended up sleeping in his bed the night before. Both Mary and Jonathan had a tendency to act like both him and Dean when something was bothering them and kept it to themselves. Sam tried not to push his kids into talking if they didn't want to but reminded them they could always come to him or their uncle when they were ready.

He headed downstairs and grabbed the bagels off the kitchen counter, taking one out to split apart. Sam stuck them in the toaster just as Mary was coming down the stairs.

She wandered into the kitchen. "All ready, Daddy." Mary was also wearing her jacket as well.

"The bagel's in the toaster, right now," Sam told her, grabbing the cream cheese out of the fridge. "Are your teeth brushed? Face washed?"

Mary turned around and headed back upstairs.

"Make sure you floss good too, Mare," Sam called after her.

"Yes, Daddy," she called back.

When the bagel popped up, Sam quickly removed it over to a paper towel, burning himself and spread cream cheese over both pieces while Mary brushed her teeth. Ammy sat on her haunches, beside her food bowl, whining.

Sam twisted back to look over at the dog. "What's wrong, girl? Did Mary not feed you, this morning?"

Ammy barked once, standing up onto all fours.

Mary returned downstairs after a few minutes.

"Hey, Mare, did you feed Ammy, this morning?" Sam asked her.

"Oh no, I almost forgot." Mary rushed over to the cabinet and grabbed the cup that was inside the dog food bag, scooping it full. She carried it over to Ammy's food dish and poured it in before taking the cup back over to the bag, dropping it inside. Her father reminded her to wash her hands, lifting her up so Mary could reach the sink and tore off a paper towel for her.

"Ready?" he asked.

Mary nodded.

"Since you just fed Ammy, we have to wait a few minutes so she can go out and use the bathroom first."

Ammy finished eating in under a couple minutes. Sam opened the front door to let the dog out and sat on the porch steps with his daughter so they could eat their breakfast while Ammy did her business.


End file.
